Familial Bonds
by MycroftsAngelEyes
Summary: The ties that bind us together, the ties that keep us strong, the ties that cannot be buried by time. Sequel to Blood Ties. PLEASE READ! NOW COMPLETE; heck, never thought I'd say that! Has Rush, Eli, Scott, Young, TJ and others in it!
1. Prologue

**Name: _Familial Bonds_**

**Author: _KaseyKC_**

**Summary: _The ties that bind us together, the ties that keep us strong, the ties that cannot be buried by time. Sequel to Blood Ties_**

**Rating: _T, but that may change_**

**Date of first entry: _4__th__ February 2010_**

**A/N: _I hope you enjoy this and it may take a while to write. I'm planning of having at least two or three chapters done before I first post this, so do not kill me for the wait. KaseyKC_**

* * *

**FAMILIAL BONDS**

* * *

"_Blood is thicker than water." German Proverb_

* * *

**Prologue**

Family is something that matters to all of humanity. It matters to every creation upon the earth and it matters to every life in the universe; whether they live in the here and now or in times long since gone or in times that have yet to occur. Family is the one constant, more predictable than science, more lasting than the fabric of reality for without family there would be disorder and chaos.

And in a world of disorder and chaos no-one could focus long enough to aspire to be anything more than alive for a few more moments before the inevitablilty of death.

In a world such as earth where society is based upon one's family status; whether they are rich or poor, of _pure_ stock or tainted, society has a single-minded view upon which all conform and obey.

If it were a possibility that family were not a building-block of the modern day society then it may be logical to assume that the foundations of everything in the current 21st century would be faulty since they would not have the strength and long-living dexterity that family provides.

It is only logical to assume then that family, as a building-block of society, would be the most important thing to have with you if you were not upon the planet you were born and raised upon. It is also logical to assume that though family is of great importance to any and all, that is may not always be the answer to everything and can, at times, be more of a hinderance than a blessing.

To be brought up in a loving household, without needing to fight for survival or hide from the monsters that really are real, is a dream and often a reality for many though they do not realise as to how important and special a thing it is to have. To take such a thing for granted could be considered ignorant, obliviously idiotic or simply niave. Either way, it does no good when one has not had such an upbringing does it?

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

The silence of space is absolute. There is no atmosphere. No travelling of sound. No inkling of an idea that in mere seconds a large, impressively-beautiful – if not slightly damaged and worn – ship will drop out of hyperspace and allow the relatively small solar system to bask in its divine and unique beauty.

It is commonly believed that, due to many unrealistic Hollywood produced movies, that when an explosion or a ship drops out of hyperspace that there is a folly of sounds and special effects. It is untrue. It is idiotic to believe this fact since with no atmosphere the sound of a pin dropping would not travel and reach ones ear where it would be processed at an astonishing speed by the human mind and then be deemed to be the sound of a pin dropping. Hollywood, though being aware that they are being incredibly inaccurate, choose to continue to flaunt this incorrect fact simply due to the fact that it makes for better screentime. Afterall, a silent movie is not of great interest to the world's youth of today.

As the large, Ancient-designed ship positioned itself automatically so as to avoid ending up in a geo-stational orbit around the nearest planet of the plantery system it was dropped out of hyperdrive within.

The planets continued on in the orbits, oblivious to the arrival of such a great feat of technology, slowly revolving in a counter-clockwise manner around the large, fusioning-star at the centre of the congregation of the large masses of rock that had atmospheres of various shades and colours.

A small metetor-belt was situated between the third and fourth planets closest to the fusioning-star, each lump and speck of rock glittering and glinting in response to the rays of the fusioning-star creating a beautiful, water-like ring segregating the planetery system with a simple ease and such beauty that none would dare to mare its beauty simply to reach the inner planets.

Upon the Ancient-designed ship there was a constant bustle of activity as the small, insigificant and out-of-place lifeforms upon it shuffled from place to place, hurriedly trying to complete checks and secure supplies acquired from earlier missions much like the one that was soon about to commence.

The stars, that watched in continuous, heartless, detatched cycles observed the arrvial of such a craft that they had never seen; at least not on such a large scale. Many millenia ago, when most had been younger and brighter than they are now, they lay witness to the arrival of many small, unmanned ships that created and distributed infitesiamally small and circular shapes of a rock mineral they had not seen before in their long lives. These small, circular shapes were placed upon the planets in the planetery system that they observed, before the small, unmanned ships disappeared from the system in a strange, photonic abnormality that existed for a few mere microseconds before the blackness of space all around, with the exception of their bright twinkling was once again unmarred and unmarked. The only reminent of the presence of those ships was the small, circular shapes that they could no longer see as they were upon the surfaces of the planets that they simply observed.

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**Here is the prologue to the sequel to Blood Ties. I don't know whether or not I'll continue with this so give me LOTS and LOTS of good reviews and such and I should have enough incentive to order my muse to satisfy me so that I can write another chapter for you all.**

**KaseyKC**


	2. One

**A/N: _Here is the next chapter.... I hope you like this and please do review it!_**

**Shorty McGee: _A bit of patience goes a long way... normally.... and who needs patience! I don't Rush has any :D Anywho, enjoy!_**

_**KaseyKC**_

* * *

"_Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted." Paul Pearshall _

* * *

**One**

If he were to consider himself a lucky man then he would also have the logic-based opinion to reason that Murphy was out to get him with an argument of whether or not the luck he happens to have in bundles is good or bad. At this present moment in time he found himself to be leaning towards the common idea that he had the worst luck of all of the human race. As always, anything that _could_ go wrong – especially after he had spent the last several days working almost non-stop simply to allow them a few weeks worth of breathable, non-toxic air – would _have_ to go wrong when he was on his way to his quarters to catch-up on the _much-needed_ sleep that he had been ordered to take.

Not that he _enjoyed_ the prospect of leaving his lab in the hands of others, regardless of _who_ those others were. No, it was the simple fact that he was so exhausted that the walk to his quarters took him, on average, ten-minutes – when he was partially functioning and not running on adrenilin – but now would take more than double that due to the uncharacteristicly slow pace he had adopted as his tired muscles refused to work as efficiently as he expected them to. As a result he found his patience lacking severely and it was not helped by the loud claxon sounding down the corridor he was currently traipsing down.

He tapped the comm in his right ear and spoke into it, his voice sounding weaker than he would normally have preferred but he reasoned that the lack of sleep was starting to take a more noticable toll on him, 'Lieutenant? What seems to be the problem?'

In response to his question he received a burst of static that had him hurriedly ragging the comm from his ear and quietly cursing. The static, though he only heard it for a moment, made his head ring and his mind freeze momentarily as the synaptic responses occurred to happily inform him that the pitch of the static hurt his ears. Not that he couldn't already figure that out for himself of course.

He turned around immediately and made his way along the corridor, back the way he'd came, his earlier exhaustion forgotten as his body created more adrenilin and his muscles sadly continued to work, thankful for the fuel they desperately needed to complie with his minds demands. He stormed along the Ancient-corridor, his mind working furiously and his right hand gripping the comm with an uncanny strength that turned his knuckles white from the effort.

Upon his entrance into his lab he immediately took note of several things; first was that the Lieutenant looked like he also had been the reciprocant of a burst of static, if his slightly pained expression was anythign to go by, and second was that Eli was frantically hurrying around the consoles whilst one of the bumbling excuses of a scientist looked absolutely terrified and kept out of the young man.

He was about to open his mouth and demand to know what was going on when Eli spoke to the scientist, not even bothering to glance at him as he continued to tap hurriedly on various consoles, 'I told you _not_ to initicate the program! Scott told you _not_ to initicate the program! Rush told you _not_ to initicate the program! Why the heck didn't you _listen_ to us? Did you think that we were just joking around?! Just saying no to annoy you?! I thought you were intelligent!'

He stared for a moment, at a loss for words. Did he really just see, just _hear_ Eli insult a scientist in the same manner that he did daily? Surely he must not have heard correctly. Apparently he hadn't though since Scott happily chose that moment to focus back onto the goings on in the lab and laugh at Eli's insult and the scientists subsequent... stare of shock.

Eli then continued with his ministrations for a few more moments before another claxon sounded, this time less imposing and less... worrying. He smiled widely at the screen and looked up from the console to see Rush standing in the door. Immediately he started speaking, 'He activated that nifty little program that we told him _not_ to, being so all knowing as to already know what would happen and so on. It activates a temporary override of the hyperdrive allowing us to drop out of FTL for what looks to be the standard twelve hours. Unfortunately what mr-know-it-all here didn't realise was that there was a security failsafe in place that meant half of the ship would be sealed off, the atmosphere vented and the people stuck in that section would die of asphyxiation, luckily I managed to override it and make _Destiny_ believe that it was an accidental initiation of the program so she didn't enact the failsafe.' Eli took a moment to draw in a breath, in order to continue with his exhilarating speech but Scott cut-in.

'Okay. So we have twelve hours out of FTL that we can use to scout out the local system?' Scott looked at the console beside Eli before looking back at him, 'I'll take that look as a yes then.'

Eli glared at Scott before sighing, which turned into a yawn. Scott grinned at Eli and Rush had to bite back a grin at the sight of Eli looking like he could happily sleep right where he was.

Rush finally decided that he'd best declare his presence and so said, 'Eli. Go to bed, you look more exhausted than I do. _You_,' he focused his cold, angered eyes on the scientist who positively looked like he was trying to blend into the wall, 'get out of my lab before I throw you out!'

The scientist scarpered, fleeing past him with such speed that the found it humourous that the people aboard Destiny avoided Eli when he'd had little sleep during a week or so... they seemed to hang around him quite often. He waited for a moment or so, until he was certain he could no longer hear the fleeing scientists footfalls on the Ancient-flooring, before entering the lab and thinking the door shut. Luckily, after he and Eli searching the database for a week or so they had found that Destiny had the same ability as Atlantis in terms of ATA technology, except that it was mostly restricted to the doors and the main lab that he was currently standing in.

He looked at Scott who deftly avoided his look, choosing instead to focus intently on the Ancient characters that were blinking on the console beside Eli as though they held the secret to eternal youth. He glared at the Lieutenant before focusing his gaze on Eli, his glare softening to become something more akin to a parent's stern look when dealing with a young child who refused to go to bed, 'Eli. Go to bed before you collapse where you are now.'

Eli glared at him and replied hootly, his normal restraint gone along with his patience due to the lack of sleep, 'I will when you do.'

Eli knew that was a childish response but he didn't care. He was too tired to put up with anyone whinging, whining or trying to act as though they were the one-and-only... and that went for Rush as well. Though he knew he was exhausted he could only imagine how tired Rush was, and so he reasoned that if he had to sleep then so did Rush.

Rush held his stare with Eli for as long as he could but a yawn suddenly made its self known, causing him to break eye-contact and blink which Eli interpreted as a sign of defeat. He groaned to himself as Eli thought the door open again; at least he knew that Eli had the ATA gene as well. Eli gently pushed him out into the hallway, saying to Scott at the same time, 'Give us a call in four hours.'

Scott looked at Eli and asked, confused, 'Four hours? You need more sleep than four hours?'

Eli rolled his eyes and said, 'Yeah. But I want to see if we can access any of the planets in this system around us and I can't do that if I'm still asleep. Besides, I only need four hours to be able to function relatively well.' He turned and looked at Scott with a slight smirk, 'It must be in the genes.'

Scott laughed and nodded, 'Alright, four hours.'

Eli and Rush then turned away and made their way down the Ancient-corridor side-by-side as they headed towards their quarters which, funnily enough, were directly opposite each other. Talk about coinsidences.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

After a relatively relaxing four hours of light dozing Eli found himself with enough energy to amble into the main gate room without glaring at everyone who made any sort of noise whatsoever. Unfortunately, it didn't make many of the scientists any calmer with his presence, _I'm turning into Rush_, he thought absently as he looked over the crates that were being moved out of the gate room months after their arrival... just hadn't got around to it had been the most common excuse that everyone was coming up with.

He smiled at the nearest scientist, who seemed to finally realise that he wasn't in his "Rush mood" and wasn't about to rip the poor guys head off... not yet anyway. He waited for the guy to start speaking but when it looked like the guy was about to a loud 'get out of my way' echoed across the gate room. The shout having a scottish lilt to it gave Eli the most obvious idea as to who had shouted out but not to _who_ they had shouted it at.

He turned around in time to see a scientist, who was carrying a case that was probably filled with paper or something, scurry out of Rush's way as he positively stomped his way across the gate room over to Eli. Eli waited patiently, even though everyone in the immediate vecinity happily choose to move at apparently the same moment, and when Rush finally reached him he said, 'who's annoyed you this time?' sounding as though he was rather bored with the whole thing.

It only served to anger Rush even more and everyone in the gate room suddenly felt the urge to disappear into the walls but not leave... no, if they did that they wouldn't be able to watch what was about to happen.

'That stupid, ignorant...' Rush was so worked up that he couldn't even describe what a fool the idiot had been, so Eli happily assisted.

'Backwards?' He suggested as Rush paced angerly in front of him. He didn't grin, that wouldn't help but, on the inside he was laughing like crazy.

'Yes! That stupid, ignorant, backwards-'

'Waste of flesh?'

'Backwards, waste of flesh that-'

'Can't figure out what a kindengardener can?'

'Waster of flesh that can't figure out what a kindengardener can and-'

'Couldn't find his way out of a box with no sides?'

'And couldn't find his way out of a box with no sides! If he even considers coming within twenty-feet of me in the next week I am going to find a way to jettison him into space!' Rush finished his ranting as he stopped pacing and stood in front of Eli who still was not grinning... well, maybe a little.

'Scott,' Eli declared more than asked the agitated scientist. He definitely would have to find out what Scott had gone and done to annoy Rush this much, he could use it to his benefit one day.

'Who else!' Rush snorted, his accent thicker than usual but Eli had no difficulty understanding him; that professor he'd had in college really did come in handy, he and Rush were both Scottish so he had no real difficulty with the interpretation of the words he spat out.

He chuckled quietly and noticed that Scott had just walked into the room. He grinned to himself and called out, in a cheery, innocent voice, 'Hey Scott!'

Rush's glare made his day strangely enough... especially when it was directed at Scott.

* * *

_**Okay. Here is the second chapter. It's late now and I'm exhausted, hence the reason why I'm about to go and get some shut-eye.... more than four hours, hopefully!**_

_**I like reviews and do remember the more you review the more I'm inclined to update and the more you have to read.**_

_**Oh, btw, I'm trying to make these chapters longer than the ones I normally do for most of my fics so if I succeed you'll probably find that the one after will be either a LOT longer or a little shorter... either way, they should be at least more than two A4 pages per chapter :D**_

_**Ambitious aren't I??**_

_**KaseyKC**_


	3. Two

**A/N: **_**Alright, here is the second chapter! I hope you enjoy it and please, PLEASE review it... even if you have something to complain about okay! I think I should have the third chapter **__**done along with this one BUT you will have to wait for me to do the fourth before I post the third! HAHA! That's the way I'm going to work this! Evil aren't I? XD**_

_**Shorty McGee:**__**HA! I love it! Zombies don't like me.... it's the Vampires and Werewolves that **__**are after my hide... along with you readers :P**__**  
**__**Ambitious? Hmm... I like the word.... Well, it describes what it is that I'm doing now doesn't it! Enjoy.**_

_**Edwina B. Karch:**__** I**__** know people who haven't known their own parents and such but they're so alike you'd **__**swear they'd been living in the same house for years... genetics I guess...**__**  
**__**I do the 'finishing-your-sentences' to my brother, mother, father and anyone I can because well... it's fun :P**_

_**And enjoyable?? It wasn't before!? Only joking... you're welcome and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**_

_**KaseyKC**_

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_"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing." ~__Muhammad Ali_

* * *

**Two**

Scott, Eli, Rush and Greer stood beside the console that was used to dial the gate all wearing the traditional, off-world gear that you would expect an SG team to have when they were about to embark on a mission. Eli and Rush both had rucksacks that contained several pieces of scientific equipment both from earth and from Destiny herself – namely a laptop and scanner each as well as various other gadgets that Rush had insisted on taking along. Scott and Greer; both being military men, wore a rucksack that contained the typical supplies that would be expected – food, water, ammo... first aid kit. And both also carried M-16s that they held with the usual, relaxed manner of the typical military _grunt_ as most of the scientists happily put it.

They waited patiently; well all but one of them did, for the tech/soldier to select one of the unlocked addresses that Destiny allowed them to gate to. They watched in silence, all movement in the gate room ceasing dramatically, as the various chevrons lit up and then locked in place. Rush was stood at Scott's side looking as though he could do with a couple more hours sleep, his mind though was still as sharp as ever even if his patience and stamina was lacking, he had morbid thoughts running through his mind that made his lack of sleep all the more dangerous since he would be more liable of murdering a couple of the _so-called_ scientists with simply a glare.

Greer sighed and thought to himself, _going off-world with that two-faced bastard again.... will I __get away with killing him this time?_, and he guessed something must have shown on his face because Scott gave him a warning glare that told him, in no uncertain terms, that killing Rush was not allowed. He still thought it was a shame though.

'Chevron seven is locked. Wormhole engaging,' the tech/soldier called out, his voice echoing around the silent gate room just as the gate came to life in a burst of sudden, flashing light. The event horizon of the wormhole shot out into the clear space in front of the gate with a dramatic WHOOSH before collapsing back in upon itself to become a seamlessly flat expanse of neon-like blue.

They all stood there, silent for a moment, as they took in the beauty of the active stargate; the blinding white light from the gate itself and the brilliant electric blue from the wormhole blending together to bath everything in a magical moonlight-like glow. It truly was stunning and one could easily see why the stargates were so appealing and god-like to primitive races; their other-worldly beauty was second-to-none.

Scott took a moment to bask in the beauty of the gate before clearing his throat loudly, breaking the ethereal spell the gate wove upon the minds of those in the room, and saying, 'Well. We've got five hours to have a look around and see if we can find anything useful. If we're not back in time just give us a call okay?'

He looked to the tech/soldier as he finished his sentence and was reassured when he saw the guys nod of assurance; it made him feel better knowing that they _would_ check on them, he'd hate to be trapped on some random planet with Rush.... it'd be hell incarnate.

'Let's go!' Eli grinned as Scott shook his head at his obvious delight; it was infectious really. He was sure he could even see Rush and Greer smirking a bit in anticipation.

'Whoa Eli. Send the Kino through first would ya?' Scott said, trying to sound calming and firm at the same time. Eli favoured him with a pout but did as he said and literally threw the Kino through the gate.

They all huddled closer to Eli, who was holding the viewing-screen for the Kino, and the control console that also had a connection to the Kino. After a few seconds of darkness the Kino activated automatically and relayed to them a decent view of the planet they were connected to.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

They gathered in silence, waiting, watching as the ring came to life. It lit up around its edges, flashing and revolving; the offerings they'd placed before it becoming displaced. They feared what was happening yet knew of no way to stop it, so they continued to watch, keeping their fear silent and unvoiced.

As the ring continued to spin, one of them cautiously approached, keeping to a respectful distance as the ring made strange sounds that were foreign to them. This one being stepped carefully on the soft dirt ground and knelt down, asking for forgiveness for his curiosity, before rising again and taking another hesitant step towards the ring. He was stood directly in front of it when the ring stopped revolving and became silent. He cocked his head to the side in a silent question and, before he was able to do anything else, was suddenly enveloped in a bright, explosion from the centre of the ring. After a few moments, the explosion fell back to the centre of the ring and a flat, shimmering layer of shining blue glittered at them. Those surrounding the ring, hiding in the trees and undergrowth, flinched back in fear and surprise; not knowing what was happening and why it was happening. They were shocked to find that the one who had been standing before the ring just prior to its sudden explosion was no longer there. He was gone.

They shied away from the ring then, fearing it all the more, and one made a small squeak when a small spherical shape hurtled through the flat expanse within the ring. It was silvery-grey and seemed to float in the air; like a birà without wings. It turned slowly, as though it were scouting out the area around the ring, and they nestled further in the undergrowth and hide further behind the trees trying to avoid its sights. They did not wish to be seen, to be discovered and killed.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

'Huh?' Eli muttered to himself as he controlled the Kino and made it survey the area, 'trees?'

Scott looked at the screen with a raised eyebrow and said, 'Yeah. Trees... _lots_ of trees.'

Eli glanced up at Scott and noticed that he looked as enthusiastic as Eli felt about the prospect of _trees_... it looked like a jungle to him.

'Trees are an important indicator of a breathable atmosphere,' Rush said absently as he looked at the readings displayed on the console he was stood in front of.

'In the Milky Way maybe, who knows wherever the heck we are,' Greer muttered as he too looked at the console and saw what looked to be a jungle-type habitat.

'We are currently in another unnamed galaxy, to us at least, that is about fourteen million light years away from Earth,' Rush announced as he checked the navigation remotely on the console, he looked at the screen and read the name the Ancient-ship had designated the galaxy with, 'but Destiny has named it "MXX-962",' he looked up at the others and saw their looks, 'they weren't renowned for their naming skills.'

'Yeah... I think we gathered that much, Rush,' Scott said, looking at Rush with a raised eyebrow, 'what about the planet, we've only got twenty-five minutes until it disengages.'

Rush refocused his attention back upon the console and read the readings being relayed by the Kino, he relaxed slightly as he reached the end of the list, 'the atmosphere is not unlike earth's in terms of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen levels but there are a few unidentified gases in the atmosphere that the Kino is picking up on. Destiny doesn't have a record of them, so I'm guessing their specific to this planet alone.'

Rush looked back up at Scott and sighed in frustration when he noticed that the Lieutenant didn't even understand what he was saying. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said, 'it's the safest we've come across in terms of atmosphere. The humidity levels though are a bit higher than average; I'm guessing that the gate is located in the tropical region of the planet.'

Scott nodded in understanding, he'd understood what Rush had said the first time round but it always helped to get him to explain a bit more. He turned away from the console and looked back at the gate, 'let's get going then.'

He began walking over to the gate, knowing that Eli and Greer were already following behind him; Rush would be picking up the LSD he'd placed on the console before catching up to them so he slowed his pace minutely.

Rush fell in behind Greer and Eli and watched as Scott raised his M-16 and cautiously stepped through the gate, obviously waiting for an enemy to jump out at him on the other side. He thought the paranoid approach was a bit dramatic but he wasn't going to complain, even if they did have a Kino still showing them what was going on around the gate, since he reasoned that they were about to step onto an unknown world in another galaxy altogether. He figured they were allowed to be extra-paranoid.

Greer stepped through the gate after Scott, his M-16 also raised and his steps cautious. His face was set in a look of determination and focus; like he was waiting to shoot something on the other side. That didn't surprise Rush, he thought the man was a bit unhinged, especially after the whole incident on the desert world.

As Greer disappeared into the event horizon Eli positively dived through the thing, almost in reckless abandon except Rush saw that Eli had the controller for the Kino at the ready; they'd discovered that the Kino's had a basic defence program that meant they exploded. He thought it was more of a self-destruct but he guessed it could be used in terms of defence also.

Now that there was only himself left to go through the gate he moved hesitantly, wearily and worriedly. He loved the science behind the stargates but that did not mean he enjoyed being de-moleculised and re-moleculised in the space of a few seconds; even if he would not feel it. Just the knowledge was disconcerting enough. Frowning in annoyance at his discomfort he quashed it forcefully and took a bold step through the gate and....

...and ended up crashing into the back of Eli as he stepped through.

'Eli!' he growled as he managed to get around Eli and see what had stopped the young man from taking a step forward. He looked at Scott and saw him standing beside two stumps of wood. Hold on... they weren't wood.... they were.

'Legs?'

* * *

_**TBC....**_

_**Okay! That was the second chapter! Phew! It took me quite a while to write you know... it was getting to be quite annoying, writer's block is now attacking me in force! Back ye demon! :p**_

_**Chapter three will be up as soon as I actually WRITE it and you will then get a continuation of this.... last bit.**_

_**Question; do you think that's an interesting cliffie? I know I do!**_

_**KaseyKC**_


	4. Three

_**Here is chapter three, I hope you enjoy it and I KNOW that chapter two's cliffie was a surprise for you! I'll try not to be so shocking this time around. Okay??**_

_**KaseyKC**_

* * *

"_To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect." ~ Oscar Wilde_

* * *

**Three**

The stars observe as an invisible link between the Ancient-designed ship and the planet is created. They do not see but they sense the disturbance. It did not do them any harm in any physical sense but it caused a slight displacement within the planetary system they observed. That disturbed them. Something that did harm yet did not know it. Something that had caused a change that would make itself known in mere hours. How long would the ship remain in the system? Would it be caught unawares by its own blind ignorance?

The stars did not know, nor did they truly care. They were only there to watch after-all; they were not to interfere and they did not wish to either.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB**

They watched and observed in silence, silence is their language, silence is their very being. To make a sound is to be real and to be real is to be a target. These newcomers are the target now, not them. But they still do not make a sound, silence is safety to them and always will be.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB**

'There are legs, not attached to a body, on the ground!' Eli hyperventilated, he couldn't be seeing this! He just couldn't! Legs are supposed to be attached to the rest of the body! He was pretty-darn sure that was true for any living creature... except fish; in their case it was fins. But that's semantics.

'Eli! Breathe properly!' Rush said forcefully, his voice loud and concerned, worry layering it in a way that made Greer look away from the stumps of flesh and at him in confusion.

_**That bastard's worried about the kid?**_ It confused him but he guessed that he was worried because Eli was the _only_ one on Destiny who didn't want to kill the jerk... at least, not _all_ the time.

'They look like they've been sliced off, maybe by a laser or something?' Scott looked at Greer, catching his attention.

Greer looked closer at the tops of the stumps and shook his head, 'Nah. They'd be evidence of burns or the wounds would be cauterised from the heat. I don't see any of that.'

They both lapsed into silence; Scott continuing to look at the stumps of flesh whilst Greer focused his attention on their surroundings. If it was some sort of weapon that did this then he'd be damned if he'd get caught in its sights, _**maybe Rush could be a distraction... it wouldn't be that much of a waste of flesh would it?**_

Eli was still hyperventilating when Rush grabbed his face with his hands and forcefully made Eli look away from the stumps of flesh and at him, into _his_ eyes. He held Eli's panicked gaze with his own determinedly calm and controlled stare. He said softly, his Scottish accent becoming soft and lilting in a way he'd found helped to calm down people quickly, 'Eli. I'm asking you to calm down.... they are not important. I need you to focus on the task, on the mission. Let Scott and Greer deal with everything else. Understand?'

Eli, still hyperventilating, though not as severely, nodded as much as he could with Rush's hands trapping his head, cutting off his view of the legs.

'Okay. I need you to breathe properly. In, hold.... out. In, hold... out.' Rush said, his voice still soft, in time with Eli's slowing breaths, 'good Eli. Keep breathing. In, hold.... out.'

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB**

They watched with cautious, baited breath as two of the newcomers inspected something on the clearing floor. The other two newcomers seemed to be in the middle of a ritual of some kind; one of them was breathing erratically and the other looked to be trying to help calm him, maybe he was trying to release a frèquà? They did not know and though they were curious they feared what may happen if they approached these newcomers. After-all, one of their own had died moments before they had stepped through the ring. What if they were Celestial Beings? What if they were here to deliver them from the Gat'urs? What if they were here to destroy them? What if?

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB**

'Rush?' Scott called over to the pair of men by the still active gate, 'be ready to re-dial Destiny when the gate disengages. I want to get those through, see what T.J can make of them.'

Rush answered, not looking away from Eli, 'Of course Lieutenant.'

The sarcasm was clear even for a dunce to hear but Scott let it slide, he was still freaked out by the stumps of flesh lying on the ground. He tapped the comm in his ear and said, 'Destiny, do you read?'

After a few moments of silence he was rewarded with a crystal-clear response from the Colonel Everett, 'Yes Lieutenant, we read. What is your situation?'

'Well, there are a pair of legs in front of the gate that look like they've been separated from a body by some sort of energy beam or something. I'm going to send them back through when we re-dial. I think we should get off this planet while we can,' Scott replied looking at the trees around them; they seemed to ring around the stargate and he couldn't see any sort of path that they could follow, 'I don't think this planet's got much more use to use other than as fire wood Sir.'

At this point Rush began speaking; he'd obviously dealt with Eli because when Scott turned back around he was crouched down beside the stumps of flesh that the bugs were already attacking, 'Separated just below the patella. Seems to be a clear, separation without any burns or signs of cauterisation. I don't think any laser or weapon did this Lieutenant.'

'Well what _do_ you think did it _Doctor_?' Scott asked, his voice layered with sarcasm. He too doubted a laser could do that sort of damage without any obvious signs or marks.

Rush looked up at him and glared in annoyance. He refrained from making any comment however as he stood up fully and turned to look at the gate with a calculating look upon his face. He stared at the event horizon and asked, 'Eli. How far does the vortex extend when a wormhole engages?'

Eli too looked over at the stargate, he'd been staring at the stumps of flesh intently with a sickly look on his face. He frowned and calculated the math in his head before answering, 'errm... about five to six feet. Why?'

Rush didn't answer immediately, he just continued to stare at the gate. When he did answer he looked over at Scott and said, 'I think that when the wormhole engaged the owner of these... _legs_... was stood within range of the vortex and was instantly de-moleculised by it when it enveloped most of his body; obviously missing his lower legs.'

Silence.

None of them spoke after Rush's theory, instead choosing to look at the stumps of flesh on the ground in the centre of them; each feeling sorry for the poor bastard who got caught out by the gate.

'Unlucky,' Greer muttered, still staring at the stumps.

Rush nodded and Eli turned an even more noticeable shade of green before turning away and staring out into the trees, not looking at anything.

Scott sighed and said, 'Sir. Disengage the gate now please and we'll dial back in immediately. We're coming back.'

Colonel Everett answered, 'Acknowledged. We expect you to dial back in in the next two minutes Lieutenant. Destiny out.' As Everett finished speaking the gate disengaged and they were left alone in the clearing, each trying not to think of how horrible it would be to die by wormhole vortex.

They stood in silence for a moment before Eli said, 'Hey! Look at-'

Each of them made an audible grunt as small darts impacted in their necks before collapsing to the ground, in silence, unconscious... and _safe_.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB**

Something stirred in the trees. Something that was not friendly. Something that was not nice. Something... that was hungry.

It unfurled itself and searched around, looking for sustenance. It sensed several beings that made sounds, that moved with noise and it homed in on them.

It swerved through the trees, in silence, heading towards its prey and when it reached them it made a terrifying shriek.

But not in triumph. In anger.

It's prey was no where to be seen. They were gone. It could not hear them. They did not move so it did not see them. Shrieking again it swerved back through the trees, seeking out more prey with which to feed itself.

* * *

_**TBC....**_

_**Okay. That's not as long as my other chapters but it's still of a decent length, right?**_

_**I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and do know that I'm half asleep right now and have school tomorrow so I should technically be sleeping and recharging my brain cells so you'd best ALL thank me for this!**_

_**Anywho, chapter four, when it is written, will be put up and you will all find out what happens next.**_

_**Once again, sorry about the cliffie! I seem to have a thing for dramatic cliffies... I think I'm predisposed to them :p**_

_**KaseyKC**_


	5. Four

_**Okay. Since SGU hasn't given us any definitive age for Rush I'm going to go with the age of Robert Carlyle – which is (in 2009) 48 years. If anyone actually DOES know his age I would be very thankful of them if they could inform me. Also, I don't know the exact age of Eli's mother either, so I've taken an educated guess and gone with her being 43 years. **_

_**Anyway, enjoy.**_

* * *

"_To dream anything that you want to dream. That's the beauty of the human mind. To do anything that you want to do. That is the strength of the human will. To trust yourself to test your limits. That is the courage to succeed." - Bernard Edmonds_

* * *

**Four**

The word dream is a noun that is used to describe the actions of the subconscious mind, when the consciousness has given control to the subconscious mind and is given time to _recharge_ for want of a better word. A dream is generally considered to be a succession of images, thoughts, sounds or emotions that pass through the mind during sleep. No-one can ever give a full, definitive reason for dreams and their purpose but many suppose that it is the subconscious trying to _tell_ the dreamer something. Throughout the recorded history of mankind dreams have always been a thing of interest as many have sought to understand what a dream means, whether they have hidden messages or warnings hidden within their layers.

Many cultures practise the ritual of 'dream incubation' with the intention of cultivating dreams of the future, what most would call premonitions, or held secret messages from the divine being that is prominent in whatever religion the ritual is performed under. In Judaism there is a traditional ceremony known as _Hatavat Halom _which literally means 'making the dream a good one'. Via this ritual a person's disturbing dreams can be transformed to give them a positive interpretation by a Rabbi or a Rabbinic court.

There are several hypotheses that focus on dreams, not unlike the one aforementioned, such as the idea that dreams allow the repressed parts of the human mind to be satisfied through fantasy while keeping the conscious mind from such thoughts that would cause a person to awaken due to the shock of the nature of these dreams. Another such theory is that of Sigmund Freud who suggested that bad dreams allow the brain to learn to gain control over emotions resulting from distressing experiences, which would be considered as being nightmares nowadays. Dr Carl Gustav Jung, who was a Swiss psychiatrist, proposed the idea that dreams were a way of compensation for a one-sided attitude that people had when they were conscious. He believed that people would benefit from incorporating spirituality into their lives to help balance themselves out.

Regardless of what the true purpose of dreams are one cannot deny the fact that a dream can take on almost any appearance and can seem just as real as reality itself is, and this is what could be of the greatest assistance to humanity because, through dreams, one can learn from the mistakes that they have yet to even commit.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_June 19__th__ 1982_

_He stood over her grave feeling as though the world was about to end. He couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Only a month ago he'd spoken to her over the phone and she'd sounded fine, sounded like the world was her oyster. It just couldn't be. _

_He held onto the single rose he held in his hand, hesitating to place it upon the newly placed grass covering her. A single rose that showed his love, a single rose. Single. Just like him._

_He turned away from her grave fully intending to walk away and never return but he froze for a moment. Looking down at the rose he held clenched tightly in his hand he felt a tear fall free from its perch on one of his eyelashes and open the doorway for all the others to follow. Hot, angry, grief-filled tears fell onto his hand onto the single rose that he decided to place upon the marker of her grave. He hiccupped quietly as he gently placed the single rose upon the white marble of her resting place._

"_Goodbye my love. Goodbye."_

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_September 21__st__ 1983_

_He worked furiously, typing crazily as he tried to forget what day it was. He couldn't think of her today, if he did that he'd be a wreck and then he'd never be able to get any work done... and he'd lose the respect – okay, the fear – he instilled in others around him. If he lost that then no-one would listen to him and he wouldn't be able to handle that loss of power, of control, not after everything that had happened to him._

_At the age of twenty-two he was the youngest person working on this program and he knew for a fact that he was important; even if no-one else realised that. He had his job here and that was all he needed. He had no ties, no relationships, nothing to divert his attention anymore from his work. He was free to spend sleepless nights in his lab working without having to rush home to great a lover or a friend or anything like that._

_But that still didn't mean that he didn't miss having to rush home and apologize profusely for being late or for forgetting a dinner-party. But that was another life, another time and he had to stop living in the past and focus on the future; even if it was dark and empty._

_But that didn't make him feel any better about it all._

"_Damn it!" he growled, he couldn't do it anymore. He had to get out, had to find something to get his mind off of his problems. He stood up abruptly, his chair crashing to the floor in a cacophony of noise, and stormed out of his lab, barrelling down the corridors past the startle scientists and security personnel as he made his way to the elevator that would take him up to the surface and to the outside world, "I need to get pissed."_

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_September 22__nd__ 1983_

_He groaned as he woke up, he felt awful, he really did. _'I'm never getting that pissed ever again,'_ he thought to himself as he opened his eyes and squinted at the blinding light shining through the window of his bedroom in his seldom used apartment._

_He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings with a sluggish mind and mostly closed eyes. He yawned and stretched out an arm which he suddenly noticed was completely free of clothing; all of him was clothing-free in fact. The thin cover-sheet of his bed was the only thing that covered him._

"_Oh..." he breathed softly, what had he done? The last thing he remembered was talking to a pretty woman about his own age, maybe younger, at the bar he'd been visiting regularly for the last year or so, "Oh dear...." _'What have I done?' _he thought as he looked out of the partially open curtains and saw the high rise of the buildings, each one of them reflecting the bright sunlight of the sun that was high in the sky, "What have I done?"_

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

They watched and waited in silence as the creature flew away, screeching in anger and frustration at being denied a meal. They waited for it to disappear into the dense trees before any of them moved towards the collapsed travellers; they knew they were not in danger for they were already dreaming, each of them unconscious and, most importantly, safe.

When they were certain it would not return they left the safety of the trees and, carrying little make-shift stretchers, they made their way swiftly over to the sleeping travellers. With infinite care and delicacy they lifted each one of the four onto the stretchers; making sure to keep the two who had been performing the ritual they had seen earlier close together. Once the travellers were all on a stretcher each, they silently made their way back into the trees and away from the great circle, off towards their underground abode.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_May 14__th__ 1984_

"_Come on now darling, you just have to push a little more," the doctor said encouragingly as the woman currently trying to deliver her first child screamed from the effort and pain, "Just one more push."_

_With a screech of pure agony and determination the child slipped from its mother entirely and entered the world. Within moments of its birth it began to cry in earnest, begging for attention and for warmth and food. The doctor smiled and said, as he wrapped the child in a blue blanket and snipped the umbilical cord, "congratulations. It's a boy."_

_The exhausted woman smiled and took the bundle from the doctor and held it close to her bosom, a wide smile breaking out upon her tired face, "my boy. My baby boy."_

_The doctor smiled happily at the sight before saying, "may I ask darling, who's the child's father?"_

_Before the woman could answer a man burst into the room looking for all intents and purposes like the world was about to end. Just as the doctor was about to say something the woman cut in, "look... our baby... our baby Eli."_

_She ignored the stab of doubt that hit her in the gut as she said that, it was her baby and the man in front of her, the man she _loved_ was its father. No-one else. No-one else._

* * *

_**Alright, I hope you've enjoyed this and please do review. I'm finding it rather difficult writing this because I'm having to research some of the details which don't really exist (darn SGU and its lack of pointless facts unless used in a fic). Anyway, please do review and I'll put the next chapter up as soon as I can. **_

_**KaseyKC**_


	6. Five

**Alright; here is chapter five of this. I hope you enjoy. Oh and, it's like one in the morning where I am and I haven't been sleeping well so if there are any mistakes then I profusely apologise now.**

**And one more thing; I don't actually know where Eli lived (which really irks me because Wikipedia has now failed me) so if anyone knows for definite could they please inform me, otherwise it's staying where I've put it. **

_**Shorty McGee**__**: Thank you and I hope you enjoy.**_

_**Tripod Gal:**__** Thank you for the many compliments – they make all the hassle of searching for the blasted details worth it lol. I hope you enjoy this and will tell me of any inaccuracies and such. I'm finding that writing about Eli and Rush is fun and difficult in a way; I've got to stick to how they are in the show as well as add some things since I'm going AU with the whole 'family' thing. Anyway, enjoy.**_

**And to anyone else; I hope you will enjoy reading this.**

**KaseyKC**

**Five**

"_One need not be a chamber to be haunted; _

_One need not be a house; _

_The brain has corridors surpassing _

_Material place." - Emily Dickinson; 'Time and Eternity'_

Memory is considered, in terms of psychology, as being an organism's ability to store, retain and recall information. Traditionally the study of the memory originated in the fields of philosophy but during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century memory was placed within the paradigms of cognitive psychology. In the last few decades though, the study of memory has become one of the main pillars of a branch of science known as cognitive neuroscience; an interdisciplinary link between cognitive psychology and neuroscience.

In regards to the formation and retrieval of memories there are three main stage; they are as follows;

The encoding or registration of memory – receiving, processing and combining the received information

The storage of the information – the creation of a permanent record of the encoded information

The retrieval, recall or recollection of the information – calling back the stored information in response to something for use in a process or activity.

There are several types of memory; sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Sensory memory relates to the initial 200 – 500 milliseconds after an item is observed. The ability to look at an item and remember what it looks like with just a second of observation, or memorisation, is an example of sensory memory. With very short presentation, people often report that they can see more that what they can actually describe. There have been several experiments in regards to this ability; one of the first being an experiment conducted by George Sperling who used the 'partial report paradigm'. The experiment was this; subjects were presented with a grid of 12 letters, arranged into three rows of 4. After a brief presentation the subjects were then played either a high, medium or low tone that informed them which of the rows they were to describe.

Based on the partial report experiments, Sperling was able to show that the capacity of sensory memory was approximately 12 items, but that it degraded rather quickly; within a few hundred milliseconds. Because this form of memory degrades so rapidly the subjects would see the display but would be unable to report all of the items before they decayed.

This type of memory therefore cannot be prolonged via rehearsal.

Another type of memory; short-term memory, allows for the recall of a period of several seconds up to a minute without rehearsal; without practice. The capacity of short-term memory is also quite limited; George A. Miller, where he worked at Bell Laboratories, conducted experiments that showed that the store of short-term memory was 7±2 items. The current-day estimation for the capacity of short-term memory is lower; typically between 4-5 items, but it is also known that the memory capacity can be increased through a process called chunking.

This process is used most commonly when trying to recall a telephone number; a person will separate the number into chunks, or sections, thus allowing them to recall it more easily. Herbert Simon showed that the ideal size for chunking letters and numbers, whether they are meaningful or not, was three.

The short-term memory is believed to rely mostly upon an acoustic code for storing information and, to a lesser extent, a visual code. An experiment carried out by Conrad on a number of test subjects found that they had more difficulty recalling collections of words that were acoustically similar – if they sounded the same on one or more of their syllables; e.g. dog, hog, fog, bog, log.

There are however, some exceptions to this, where some individuals have been able to remember large amounts of information quickly and have been able to recall the information in seconds; this is what would be considered as being an eidetic memory.

The last type of memory is the long-term memory, which has a much larger capacity than that or the sensory and short-term memory. This means that the long-term memory can store larger quantities of information for a potentially unlimited duration; in some cases, a whole life span. This capacity can also reach an infinite level; for example, when given a random seven-digit number, one may remember it for only a few seconds before forgetting it, thus suggesting that it was stored in one's short-term memory. On the other hand, we can remember telephone numbers for many years through repetition; this information is then said to be stored in the long-term memory.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_March 14__th__ 1996_

"_Happy birthday to you!" _

_It was midday at their home in the suburbs of Colorado Springs and Maryann smiled widely at her twelve-year old son as he blew out the candles on his birthday cake; she felt like she was blessed to have such a gifted, wonderful son. She recalled all of the previous birthday parties she'd thrown for her son; she recalled how every time she bought him gifts he always looked put-out if they weren't technical. For such a young boy it confused her that he was so obsessed with technology but he loved it so she didn't argue with it; her husband on the other hand found it annoying that his son would rather spend his time on videogames instead of baseball and soccer._

_She was just happy that her son was smiling; especially after what had happened recently. The atmosphere in the house was normally tense and stressed; the only difference today was because of the people and children that had been invited for Eli's birthday. But the tension was still there._

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_November 19__th__ 1998_

"_I can't do this anymore! I just can't!" he shouted, his voice carrying anger and frustration. He turned away from her and grabbed the handle of the front door, "It's too much."_

"_But what about Eli? What about us?" she sobbed, reaching over and lightly grasping his arm in her frail grasp, "You can't just leave us like this."_

"_I'm sorry... but, I can't take this anymore. I need to get out of this while I still can," he said softly, looking away from her and shaking her hand off, he opened the front door, "I'm sorry Maryann."_

_And then he was gone; from their life._

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

They gently placed them down upon the ground, trying not to jostle them and wake them up; it would be another half-hour before the sleeping drug wore off but if they were disturbed too much they would awaken but would not be fully coherent. It would be an unnecessary waste of energy and a production of too much noise; and noise was bad.

They stood over the sleeping travellers for a few moments before silently leaving the small area they had placed them in; covering the entry with a thin piece of material so as to block out the false-light they had made to illuminate the tunnels.

The four travellers continued to slumber almost completely fitful bar one of them; who looked to be in the throes of a night terror. He was the pale skinned one who had been the first one to step through the ring; they all sent up prayers to the Celestial Beings asking for him to be well.

**TBC....**

**Review!**

**Review!**

**REVIEW!!**

**Please....**

**I hope you enjoyed this and will please TELL me what you think because I've only had seven reviews and with all the effort I've put into this it's kind of upsetting me (must not cry, must not cry). I don't know when I'll be updating this again since I've got school again (now I'll cry) as well as some of my other fics.**

**KaseyKC**


	7. Six

**Okay. Here is the fifth chapter. I hope this one is longer than my previous chapter and has a bit more of a 'getting this story going' feel to it.**

_**Edwina B. Karch: Thank you. I don't actually know if I will... know you've got me thinking about that... hmm... I think it'll just have to be a surprise. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Enjoy.**_

_**To anyone else, I hope you also enjoy and please review since reviews make me a happy person.**_

**KaseyKC**

* * *

"_The true critic is he who bears within himself the dreams and ideas and feelings of myriad generations, and to whom no form of thought is alien, no emotional impulse obscure."__ - __Oscar Wilde_

* * *

**Six**

The term alien can be applied to both law as well as extraterrestrial life forms from another planet. In regards to the term in the confines of the law an alien is a person who lives in a country where they are not a citizen or resident.

There are several different types of people who are considered aliens, these are;

People who are legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to them. On specified terms, this kind of alien can be known as a legal alien of whichever country they reside within. This type is quite a broad category and includes tourists, guest workers, legally permanent residents and student visa residents.

There are also illegal immigrants who are considered illegal aliens meaning they do not have permission to live in a country foreign to them.

The other common use of the word alien is used when describing extraterrestrial life. Extraterrestrial life is normally defined as being life which doesn't originate from the planet Earth. The word 'extraterrestrial' is derived from the Latin _extra_; meaning _outside_ or _outwards_, and _terrestris_; meaning _earthly_ or _of relating to the earth_. In the twenty-first century, the existence of such life is theoretical; unless one is part of the Stargate program, and all of the assertions about it remain highly disputed.

There are several hypotheses regarding the origins of extraterrestrial life and they are as follows;

One hypothesis proposes that it may have emerged, quite independently, from different places in the universe. Meaning that little green men could be in another galaxy to our own, the Milky Way.

Another hypothesis is _panspermia_, or exogenesis, which theorises that life emerges from one, specific location, then spreads between habitable planets.

The study and theorisation of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology, exobiology or xenobiology. There is speculation over the forms of extraterrestrial life; ranging from life with the simplicity of bacteria to sapient or sentient beings which are more advanced than human beings.

Several suggested locations which might have once developed, or presently continue to host life similar to that upon the earth, include the planets Venus and Mars, the moons of Jupiter and Saturn as well as Gliese 581 C and D; which was recently discovered to near Earth-mass extra-solar planets that are apparently located in their star's habitable zone; much like the Earth is located near to the sun in our solar system but not too close like Mercury. These planets both have the potential to have liquid water stored upon their surface or under the surface.

As it is, to date, there is no credible evidence of extraterrestrial life that has been discovered which has been accepted by the mainstream scientific community. Of course, the mainstream scientific community doesn't generally work on the Stargate program which is indisputable evidence of extraterrestrial life since, the Stargate itself is made up of a mineral not found naturally upon Earth and can create mostly stable wormholes from one planet to another. If that is not indisputable evidence then stepping into the event horizon and coming out on the other side face-to-face with a little grey man who introduces himself as being from the race known as the Asgard might do the trick.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

They waited in silence, wondering when the travellers would awaken from their slumber; it would not do if they did not wake soon, for the Gat'urs would be even more active when the darkness fell across the jungle.

One of them peeked through the thin material to check on the travellers and saw that one of them looked to be awakening; he was the one who had been performing some sort of ritual with the large one. Perhaps he was gifted? Maybe that was why the sleeping drug was wearing off on him quicker than the other travellers.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_January 21__st__ 2004_

"_I'm sorry Doctor. I think this is the best thing for you to be working on, I won't change my mind." _

_He stood there glaring intensely at the pencil-pushing fool who thought he could order _him_ about. Him! A top class scientist who had more intelligence situated in a single electron in a single atom of his body than that jumped up fool did in his _entire_ body. _

_It was insulting! He needed to work there! He loved the idea of being in a city that was built by the people he admired so much. And he was denied. Why? Because they said he'd be more useful working on the ninth chevron problem. Anyone could do that! He didn't _want_ to be working on that! He wanted to be on Atlantis but they refused to let him go where he wished. Bastards._

_He continued glaring at the pencil-pusher and managed to ground out, "Fine. But I will continue to send requests to be transferred to Atlantis regardless of your _opinion,_" before turning abruptly on his heel and stalking out of the small office and off down the corridor towards his lab._

"_Bastards..."_

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_Oh god...._ he felt like he had been hit by a puddle jumper, not that he knew what that felt like since he'd never actually seen one in reality but he could always imagine. He opened his eyes slowly, wincing at the rocky-ceiling that he saw. He groaned quietly when he felt a light pounding in his skull from the heavy metal band that had set-up shop there and was slowly but surely increasing in its intensity. What he wouldn't give for his bed back on Destiny instead of the stupid cave with its stupid, hard, rocky floor. Hold on. A _cave_?

He snapped his eyes open as his system was flooded with adrenalin; he sat up suddenly and though the entire area swarm and wavered he didn't lie back down. After a few seconds, and a few deep breaths, the world stopped wobbling about and he was able to look around without feeling like he was having a severe case of vertigo. He spied Greer, unconscious, on what looked to be a thin blanket not too far from him, and looked to his other side where he saw Eli, also unconscious and lying on a thin blanket, and Scott who looked to be having a nightmare of sorts.

He frowned and crawled over to Scott, fully intending to wake him up, when a hand landed on his shoulder and easily restrained him. He felt his pulse quicken, his breath coming faster, his eyes widening in fear as he turned his head to look at the hand on his shoulder; or rather, the _claw_ on his shoulder. He followed the arm that the claw was connected to until his eyes found a face with large, black eyes staring at him.

_I hate Murphy...._ he thought when the creature knelt down in front of him and brought its face closer towards him, _I really do hate the guy...._

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

"Does _some_one want to explain to me _why_ they haven't dialled back?!" Colonel Young shouted as he glared at the technicians, soldiers and scientists who were stood around the edges of the room; all fearing to go near to the angered Colonel, "No? Does no-one know _anything_?!"

There was no response to his question and he couldn't help but think, _sometimes I agree with Rush about these idiots_, before he sighed and said; his voice more controlled and quieter, "Does anyone know anything that could help us out?"

A few tense moments before one of the technicians answered with, "We could redial and re-connect to the Kino."

Young looked over at the technician, scrutinising him for a long moment, before saying, "Get to it then!"

The technician scrambled over to the control console and began dialling the gate. Each chevron lit up when it was selected and within a few moments there was a loud whooshing sound as the gate engaged and the vortex burst out of the gate before collapsing back into the event horizon. The technician inputted a couple of commands and was rewarded with footage on the other side of the gate.

"Colonel. You might want to look at this," the technician said as he played the footage from when the gate had disengaged an hour ago.

Young stomped over to look at the screen and watched what transpired on the other side before saying, "I want a team geared up in ten minutes!"

And the gate room exploded with action as soldiers immediately scrambled to get geared up and scientists scurried off to the labs to run various tests as well as to watch the footage from a secure terminal. The technicians continued monitoring the gate and the readouts as well as some of the basic systems that Rush and Eli dictated for them to check on when they were off-world.

* * *

**TBC...**

**Alright. I don't know when I'll be updating this; hmm... I seem to be saying that a lot but I always update fairly quickly don't I? Anyway, in all seriousness, I have school tomorrow and so I need an early night tonight so don't be expecting any sudden updates in the week since I'll be going insane from school work.**

**Anyway, do remember to REVIEW! KaseyKC**


	8. Seven

**Alright I'm very sorry that I haven't update this for a while but I've been mad busy with my school work; there's only a few more weeks until my exams and I'm already doing my art one!**

**But, I will obviously try to update this as often as possible and hopefully there might be ten chapters by the end of April; hopefully.**

_**Edwina B. Karch: Thanks. Hope you enjoy.**_

_**Shorty McGee: Enjoy**_

**Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and ENJOY**

**KaseyKC**

*******

**Seven**

*******

"_To be conscious that we are perceiving or thinking is to be conscious of our own existence". – Aristotle 'Nichomachean Ethics'._

*******

_I'm going to die now.... __no! I can't die! Eli! __I have to protect Eli!_ Rush glared at the creature as it peered at him, _I've got to save my son... my son..._

It cocked its head to the side, looking intently into Rush's eyes almost as though it were trying to peer into his soul; to say that Rush found it unnerving would be quite the understatement. He found that it terrified him for some unknown reason.

After what felt like a millennia had passed the creature blinked owlishly and gripped his shoulder even tighter causing Rush to wince. As it continued to apply an ever increasing amount of pressure on his shoulder Rush let out a quiet whimper as he felt his shoulder and collar bone shift slightly; why was it doing this?

"Stop please..." he gasped quietly, reaching out a hand to grab the clawed extremity, hoping that he could get it to let go. But his hand didn't make it that far.

Using its other clawed hand the creature gripped Rush's hand in a bone-crushing grip which caused Rush to cry out in pain; he swore he could feel a bone break in his hand.

"Please stop.... please..." he almost cried closing his eyes in a vain attempt to shut out the pain; which obviously didn't work as it simply increased steadily as the creature continued to crush both his hand and his shoulder until-

"H-h-he-hel-hell-hellooooo...." and the pressure on both his hand and shoulder suddenly disappeared when a strange and croaky-voice spoke next to him.

Using his other, uninjured hand, Rush gripped his, probably broken, hand and cradled it; his eyes still shut and refraining from causing his shoulder anymore pain by moving it about too much. Again the voice spoke, "hellooo..."

He heard a dull sound from somewhere around the room but he didn't acknowledge it until he also heard a very human groan. That was when he opened his eyes and was greeted, once again, by the piercing stare of the creature that had happily tried to crush his hand.

"Helloo... I-I... a-a-a-ma... s-s-s... sor-rr...sorree...sorree..." the creature croaked as it cocked its head again, "I-I-I... ne-nee-needd-neededdd.... to... l-lerr-lernna... y-y-yoor.... your... la-lan.... lange.... langu...langua-languagg... language..."

Rush tried to glare at the creature but found that his attention was drawn to the sounds of groans and quiet grunts that he guessed were coming from the others... and Eli. He risked a side-glance at Scott, Greer and Eli and found two-out-of-three of them awake; Greer was still unconscious. Thank God.

Scott mumbled, almost to himself, as he rubbed his neck; his eyes closed, "damn... that's some hangover..."

Rush, unable to help himself, even with an alien staring at him and a broken hand, said sarcastically, "not a hangover Lieutenant... unless you happen to have a thing for leggy-dinosaurs?"

Scott immediately opened his eyes and when he saw Rush and the creature he immediately reached for his P-90, that was still attached to his tac-vest; the creatures hadn't removed it. Why?

The creature turned its attention to Scott and held up a single clawed hand and spoke in broken english, "no.... p-ple-pleasee... do... n-nota.... s-s-sh-shoo-shoott..."

Rush, though he was still hating and afraid of the creature, chose to also come to its aid, "Lieutenant, don't shoot without thinking please; it makes the rest of the military contingent look intelligent. This creature told me that it needed to learn our language. How did you do that by the way?" Rush looked from Scott to the creature.

"Yeah... that's a good question...." another voice said, sounding tired and grouchy but also intrigued. Eli was awake at last.

"I.... u-use... tele...telep..." the creature seemed to be finding it difficult to pronounce the word 'telepathy' so Rush kindly butted in.

"You mean 'telepathy'? You used telepathy to learn our language?" he raised an eyebrow in surprise, the pain in his hand had already become a dull ache and it mixed in with the pain from his shoulder also.

"Y-yes... telep-athy..." the creature nodded slowly, as though it were not used to performing such an action.

"Why did you attack us?" Eli asked softly, looking at the creature which stared at him as intently as it did with Rush.

"We... we we-re... p-pro-protec....protect-ing.... you..." the creature explained, its attention focused solely on Eli, "th-the...G-ga.... Gat... Gat'urz... Gat'urs... th-they.... w-were... h-hun-hunt... hunting...."

Eli held the creatures stare with the same sort of determination that Rush would normally have; if he wasn't in pain of course, for a long time before he nodded and said, "I'm guessing your English will improve the more you talk and hear us talk, right?"

The creature smiled, or what constituted as smiling for a two-legged-dinosaur type creature, "r-righ...right..."

"okay.... best get cracking then...." Eli gave the creature a half-grin, and the others too, before it faded when he noticed that Rush was cradling his hand, "what happened?"

Rush repressed the urge to smile, and instead shook his head slowly, "I don't think our friend here, realised that we're kind of fragile..."

"I am... so-sorry.... Nic-Nicho-Nicholass..." the creature said quietly, "I did n-not... me-meann... you... h-har-harm..."

"It's al- hey, you know my name," Rush looked at the creature and frowned.

"Y-yes... m-my... n-name... i-is... F'r... F'ra-F'raen.... F'raenia.... F'raeniass..." the creature said, stumbling over its own name.

"F'raenias?" Rush muttered, testing the name out, before smiling slightly and saying, "nice to meet you F'raenias."

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

"Why isn't the gate engaged yet!?" Young exploded as he stomped into the gate room and noticed the gate was only just being established, "I said I wanted it open when I got back here!"

"Sorry Colonel, we had a bit of a problem with the dialling sequence. I don't think we'll be able to re-establish another wormhole from this side again," a technician hurriedly explained as the scientists that had been around the dial-up computer hastily scattered.

"Will anyone on the other side be able to dial Destiny?" Young asked, trying to temper his anger and annoyance; he couldn't have a go at them if this wasn't their fault right? Yeah right.

"Yes. Dr Rush will understand this if you give it to him Sir," the technician nodded and handed Young one of the hand-held computer units that they'd found on Destiny; they resembled the tablet computers on Earth but were stream-lined and had Ancient instead of English as the main language on their systems. And they could interface with any Ancient technology which was a God-send for them.

"What's this?" Young took the tablet and slipped it into his tac-vest; the fact that they were about the size of the Life Sign Detectors that were on Atlantis was useful also since that meant they were compact.

"It's a diagnostic program that Dr Rush will need to run on the gate on the planet so that it can establish a safe wormhole with Destiny," the technician replied as he edged away slightly, towards the dial-up console, "Sir, the gate's only got another 12 minutes before it disengages."

Young grimaced and nodded curtly, turning towards the open event horizon and said to the assembled teams; SGD-2 and SGD-3, and said, "Right, move out!"

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

It swerved in and out of the trees looking for something, anything that it could devour to temper its nauseating hunger. It couldn't continue for much longer without something to eat.... it needs sustenance. It can't survive much longer like this...

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

"We're peaceful explorers from another Galaxy. We've been trapped on a ship far from home and we're hoping to find a way back eventually..." Eli explained along with hand motions to F'raenias, hi voice fast and slightly higher than normal; it was like he thought something was wrong.

That made Rush curious; Eli was worried about something but he didn't mention it, didn't even think about it he was fairly certain since these creatures had the ability to read their minds. Not the nicest thing to contemplate; the idea that your most private of thoughts could easily be discerned and heard by a complete stranger.

He decided to cut into the conversation that had been going on for about ten minutes, which allowed him to assume that F'raenias had heard enough to be able to speak English the language quite well, and ask straight up about the telepathic abilities the creatures had, "You say you're telepathic? Can you read my mind right now?"

F'raenias looked over at Rush, as did Eli who he'd cut off, and answered; still in broken English but far better than before, "not unless... I have... co-contact... y-your... phys-physi.... physiol...."

"Physiology?" Eli supplied looking at F'raenias in interest.

"Yes. It is...dif-different.... to ours... so I need.... c-contact..." F'raenias finished looking at Rush with interest, "why do... you a-ask?"

Rush shrugged one shoulder and said, "Oh, I was just wondering because you obviously need to speak with your people so I figured that it must be telepathic between you, but different with us... since we're not from.... around here," Rush finished smiling slightly, hoping that F'raenias really couldn't hear his thoughts because he was starting to understand Eli's fear.

These were aliens that needed contact to read their thoughts. This creature had learnt of his name via telepathy. What else had it learnt from him?

*******

**Oh.... isn't this just hotting-up hm?**

**I think this is going to be fun to write since I'm all for drama and action; it's a weakness of mine. If you don't believe me just read my latest fics.... they're land of drama and action!**

**As I said at the beginning; I don't know when I'll be updating but I'll try for the weekend. Work permitting of course. I know I have two weeks off in April (which I'll be spending doing revision... fics.... more fics... bit of revision.... more fics :p)**

**KaseyKC**


	9. Eight

**Okay. I do apologise profusely for this update being SO very late! I've been insanely busy with things in the real world (curses) and as a result have been finding it difficult to devote enough time to focusing on updating this; I blame the length of the chapters.**

**Anyway, I do hope you enjoy and to my two, continuous reviewers, I LOVE YOU for you patience...**

**Anyway, to anyone else, enjoy and review.**

**KaseyKC**

* * *

**Eight**

* * *

"_The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity." - __John F. Kennedy__ (1917 - 1963)__, __Speech in Indianapolis, April 12, 1959_

* * *

There is a common saying that life is full of missed opportunities, if that is true then it is logical to assume that every moment of the day you are missing an opportunity. But what sort of opportunity? How many do you miss in a single day?

Didn't Einstein and all those other clever yet misunderstood fellows of science theorise the idea that life was full of 'forks in the road'? Could those 'forks in the road' actually be those missed opportunities?

Is it not possible to consider the idea that to choose the red pill is better than choosing the blue pill for some, not for all? Is it not possible to consider the concept of moral dilemmas as being the choice between which path to take when one comes to a fork in the road of life?

Rush didn't know if missed opportunities were the 'forks in the roads', he didn't know if they were merely coincidence, he didn't know if the choice he might make in the next few minutes could save them or damn them to death... and maybe worse.

Eli sat next to Rush, both as silent and pensive as Scott had ever seen them. He looked at Greer who was sat near to the thin strip of cloth that separated them from the rest of the underground complex these creatures called home. Giving him a short nod Scott went and perched next to Eli and said, "What are you guys thinking?"

"A lot of things lieutenant, none of which I can be bothered simplifying for you," Rush responded automatically, but his insult lacked its usual biting sarcasm.

Scott smirked and said, "you guys seemed pretty worried about something earlier, I was just wondering when you were going to share," he raised an eyebrow when Eli looked at Rush and he swore he could see some sort of secret communication between the pair.

Eli gave a small nod of his head, barely perceptible, before saying softly, "we think that these creatures have the ability to gain information from us when they come into contact with us."

Rush looked at Scott with a pointed look and Scott risked a glance towards Greer and the door before responding, "So I guess we'd best finish the tour and get back to base right?"

"Right," Rush responded, his hand felt like it was about to drop off and his shoulder had gone numb about twenty-minutes ago, "Eli, how long have we got until Destiny jumps again?"

Eli thought for a moment before responding, "A little over 5 hours, but that depends on how long we were all out. If we were out for more than two hours then I'd say less that 5, a lot less," He grimaced at the thought of being stranded on this planet, away from the only other humans in this galaxy, heck in this part of the universe.

"Okay. Maybe we could check our radios and see if we can get a message out, I'm betting that Colonel Young ordered a re-dial when we didn't dial back in," Scott pressed the button on his radio and cursed in his head when it didn't pick anything up.

"We're too deep underground for our radio frequencies to be picked up Scott. We either need to boost the signal or get closer to the surface," Eli muttered rubbing a hand over his face; he wasn't even thirty and he felt like he was... damn, he missed playing computer games sometimes, he missed his mom...

"Can you and Rush boost it?" Scott immediately asked looking between the pair, he hoped that they could boost it because he seriously doubted they'd be leaving anytime soon.

"If my hand was still intact then yes, as it is, Eli will have to manage on his own..." Rush sighed which turned into a yawn, "I'm so tired.." he yawned again and Scott smirked.

"Get some sleep Rush, I'm sure Eli can boost the signal," he looked at Eli who nodded mutely; they both decided that Rush needed sleep. 'Must be the adrenalin wearing off' he thought as he watched Rush's eyelids slide shut.

The last thing Rush said before he drifted away to the land of dreams was, "give Eli your radio lieutenant..."

Scott smirked and was about to move away when Eli said, "he wasn't joking you know; I will need your radio and Greer's too."

Scott looked at him with a raised eyebrow before unclipping his radio and handing it to Eli, "use mine, Rush's and your own; I want Greer's in one piece encase anyone tries to contact us."

Eli, already lost in the task of disassembling the radio, just nodded and continued to pry open the black radio case.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_18__th__ March 2005_

"_Oh thank god he's leaving! Now we can get this party started!"_

_A loud cheer went up from the small group of scientists that were in the middle of the mess hall; he didn't care that they hated him, he didn't care that they thought he couldn't have fun, their minds were so primitive compared to his that it was no wonder that he did not communicate with them much; beyond the usual insults and berating for complete and utter incapableness. Oh, and coffee._

_He ignored the sounds of laughter that was the by-product of a pathetic joke at his expense; let them think what they wished of him, it wasn't as if their thoughts were worth anything. No, they were all fools and imbeciles who thought that coming from a background of money meant you were automatically brilliant. Sometimes he wished that he could work with someone who wasn't from a rich family, who knew what hardship was and understood responsibility. But that wouldn't be, afterall, science was just another form of politics and society with all their rules and regulations and little 'clubs' and who was and who was not._

_It sickened him, it truly did, because his intelligence far surpassed any of those idiots there and yet he was not given the respect, the acclaim he so obviously deserved! It was ironic... it was unfair... it was life in a nutshell really._

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_21__st__ July 2005_

"_It's about time I left this place! I mean, there's only so much idiocy and stupidity I can put up with!" Rush exclaimed to himself as he strode into his lab, _'I wonder how my new lab will look?'_ he thought as he began packing his personal items into the plastic box he'd taken from the storage room one floor below._

_He had just finished putting all his private notes into the box when the comm. he'd been given by some major, or colonel or whatever, beeped and the sound of talking could be heard. He grabbed it and shoved it into his ear before listening to what was being said, _'oh no... not again!'

"_I'll be there in a moment and please for the love of god _do not _let them touch it!" he barked out, anger and irritation seeping into his voice._

_He glared at the half-filled box and stormed out into the corridor and off towards Lab B-6 where the idiots had caused another disaster that he had to go and prevent, _'I'm not going to miss this!'

_As he walked into the lab and opened his mouth to speak he stopped suddenly; there was no-one there. The lab was empty of scientists except for himself, "what the?"_

_He looked around and noticed on the lab bench work-top a small, wrapped box with an envelope next to it. Supposing that it was someone's and that they'd forgot it earlier, he went and looked at the name on the envelope and was shocked to see his own._

_Carefully, and with great hesitation, he reached out a hand and picked the envelope up, pausing for a long moment before turning it over and breaking the seal on it. Carefully and with baited breath he slid out the letter inside and unfolded it._

_The words upon it made Rush think of his fellow scientists in a new light;_

_**Doctor Rush,**_

_** We apologise profusely for not being here to give you your gift but we were worried for our own safety and so decided that delivering it in this manner was the safest. We also apologise for telling you that we had 'messed up' again; it was one of the few ways we have realised you will drop everything for so as to fix our mistakes.**_

_**I'm afraid that none of us know you too well but we do know how much of a great man you are; we often envy you for your mathematical abilities alone, never mind you scientific skills.**_

_**We also know that you will be leaving within a few hours of reading this letter, which means we will live longer, and so we all wished to tell you this from the people who you may not consider friends but who consider you a valuable colleague who we will miss having around to fix our bouts of stupidity.**_

_Beneath the letter there were over a dozen signatures from most of the scientific staff of the base and Rush couldn't help but smile at it; he'd terrorised these people for almost five years and here they were, giving him a gift and wishing him well. Absurd! _

_He placed the letter down on the bench and moved his attention to the gift which he deftly unwrapped and left him to gasp in surprise and appreciation. They'd bought him a silver photograph-frame that was the perfect size for the one he kept hidden away next to his bed._

_He noticed another small letter in that was in the wrapping and so fished it out; this one was short and to the point but it made Rush tear-up a little;_

_**Nicholas, **_

_** I noticed you looking at my photo-frame a few months ago; the one that had my mother in and I realised that you probably didn't have anything to put a photo in so I suggested it to the others and they thought it would be a good idea to get you one. We didn't know what size to get you so we stuck with the standard size frame. I hope you can put it to good use.**_

_**Kate**_

_Kate was the only scientist who worked in the same lab as him on occasion; she was also the only one to give back as good as she got when he was in a particularly bad mood. _'I think I'm going to miss her....' _he realised suddenly as he slowly sat on the stool that was by the bench, _'I think I'm going to miss them all even...'

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

Rush awoke with a startled gasp as someone shook he injured shoulder. He snapped his eyes open and glared at who had woken him; Greer.

"Wakey-wakey _Doctor_," Greer sneered as he gave Rush one final shake before rising and moving over to where Scott and Eli were speaking with someone over the radio, _'he did it then'_ he thought as he slowly rose to his feet.

Eli, upon hearing Rush's movements, looked up at him and grinned that grin he did when he'd figured something out and was proud of it. Rush, who normally would have glared or snapped at him to get back to work, instead found himself smiling at Eli.

"We're all awake now Colonel. I can't give a definitive number on the amount of enemies there are, but I'm guessing at least two dozen," Scott said into the radio, and after waiting a moment the sound of a crackly response met their ears.

"_Alright Lieutenant, do you have anything to defend yourself with?"_

"Yes sir, we've still got our weapons," Scott responded immediately looking at Rush and giving him a nod which Rush returned in response to Scott's unasked question; 'are you alright?' 'not really but I'll survive.'

"_Okay. We're at the entrance to the tunnels now, we'll make our way in silently, five minutes from now I want you to head in the direction that you think will lead you out, use whatever force is necessary Lieutenant."_

"Yes sir," Scott responded as Greer moved away to the weapons they'd had with them.

"_Over and out."_

The radio went dead and Scott sighed, "Guess we're getting out of here."

"Let's just hope we get out alive Lieutenant," Rush muttered as Greer handed Scott his M-16 and Eli the 9 mil. he'd been carrying. Greer chucked him his 9 mil. and it would have hit him in the face had it not been for Eli, in a sudden bout of excellent hand-to-eye coordination, grabbed it before it could break his nose and threw Greer a malicious glare that Rush felt proud of.

* * *

**TBC...**

**Okay, the next update may be sometime in the Easter holidays so please have some more patience and REVIEW! PLEASE!!**

**The lack of reviews is getting to me; especially since I have another fic that has like 7 chapters and only 5 reviews...**

**Anyway, please review...**

**KaseyKC**


	10. Nine

**Hey everyone, I'm sorry that I haven't updated this until now but I've been kind of busy with one of my other stories, I know, how rude of me. I hope you all had a good EASTER! And had lots of CHOCOLATE :D**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter; I do believe it's longer than the last one and is a bit more action :P**

**And to any and all who are reading this; read it, enjoy it, comment on it, and wait for the update of it. KaseyKC**

**Nine**

"_In Flanders fields the poppies grow__  
__Between the crosses, row on row,__  
__That mark our place, and in the sky,__  
__The larks, still bravely singing, fly,__  
__Scarce heard amid the guns below."__- John McCrae._

War. It's a funny word; too commonly used and too commonly ignored of its consequences. War is what every man, woman and child has experienced in their lifetime; heavens, war never stops, what stops is mankind's acknowledgement of it for certain periods of time before they declare 'oh! War's home!' and they see it again as they aim the barrel of a gun at an innocent being.

On Earth millions of people, billions in fact, have died in the name of some patriotic or self-centred cause which is only a fancy way of saying WAR: ANNILILATION OF THE OTHERS. But, one has to wonder who the others are? Are they the adversaries on the field who fire back? Are they the innocent people in towns and cities far from the fields of war? Are they the statistics that each side has? Who are the others? Who are they to politicians, who are they to soldiers, who are they to you?

When has it ever occurred to humanity as a whole that in-fighting is a pointless waste of time, blood and life that could be better spent working together as the family that every human is a part of? In World War Two millions of men; on both sides, died for the cause, but what was the cause? Can it be recalled over the staggering number of corpses, over the numbers collected on the bombs dropped, on the bullets fired? No soldier is to blame for what a politician orders, for what a single man says; but they are responsible for their own actions of servitude, afterall if they had said no they may have been shot for desertion but they would be able to die knowing they did the ultimate honesty and the most righteous of things; they died for what they believed in and for not executing another man merely because of a careless order from a man who is safely stowed away from the centre of the war.

Rush had always found it to be ironic that humanity was still fighting itself when it had much bigger, and more deadly, adversaries outside of its own atmosphere. The fact that mankind still held to the belief that it was the only thing in the universe that lived was absurd and Rush was forever thankful that it wasn't a true fact; afterall, his reasoning was how much quieter and lonelier would the universe be if mankind were alone?

"Rush," Scott hissed as he flattened himself against the wall; grabbing Rush's shirt and dragging him next to him.

Opening his mouth to insult Scott Rush was about to speak when Scott shoved a hand over his mouth and gave him a look that clearly said shut-up. Taking in the meaning Rush slowly nodded and Scott gently removed his hand from over Rush's mouth and replaced it back on the butt of his weapon; Eli pressed himself up against the wall just beside Rush and Greer just behind Eli, none of them spoke or made a sound as one of the _raptors_, as Rush had taken to calling them after the one outside their previous accommodations had taken a dislike to their escape plan, ambled past their hiding spot not paying too much attention to where it was walking.

Once it was gone from the immediate area Scott motioned for them to silently follow him out into the corridor and he made his way, cautiously checking any of the other corridors or rooms that connected to the corridor they were on, relatively quickly so when they reached the rising of the ground; which signalled the start of their ascent to the surface, it only felt like minutes had passed when in fact it had been more than half-an-hour since Young had contacted them.

Turning to Greer Scott whispered, "Greer, wait here with these two while I check our way out's clear," Greer nodded and moved into a defense position in front of Rush and Eli; as much as Greer hated Rush he wasn't going to let the bastard die since he was one of the few who could actually get them home. Scott moved away from them without making a sound on the dirt ground with his boots, which made Rush suddenly unnerved as he had the most absurd thought that Scott could one day sneak up on him and slit his throat and he'd never stand a chance; _'such a cheery concept'_ he thought as he stood in silence next to Eli whose eyes were darting from every crevice to every hole that was big enough for a slug to crawl through, _'assuming there are slugs on this rock'_.

He didn't know how to calm Eli without words so he did the only thing he could think of; he nudged Eli and then pulled a silly face, which looked more like he had a hernia, behind Greer's back. Eli looked at him with a stare that just encompassed almost every emotion Eli could feel in less than a second; shock, humour, laughter, confusion, annoyance and amusement. He stifled a laugh as Greer turned to look at them for a moment before re-focusing on surveying the area. Shaking his head in amusement Eli grinned and decided to join Rush in his face-pulling and so stuck out his tongue, made himself go gozzey-eyed and put a hand behind his head sticking up like a shark fin. Rush damn near choked on the breath he'd just taken as he observed Eli wagging his head at Greer, who turned around so quickly that he caught Eli in the act.

'_Oh...'_ Eli thought as Greer gave him a look that clearly said he'd love to shoot Eli there-and-then, and as he took a menacing step towards him Rush moved just slightly in front of Eli, blocking Greer's path, and Scott appeared just to their left. Rush's glare was at full-force and for a moment it was all that was needed to stop Greer in his tracks; it was look that he'd seen on the face of a man who was trying to protect his injured son when he'd been in Iraq, the look of a protective parent. _'Rush is protecting him... like a father... huh?_' Greer's mind came to a halt as he thought about that and Scott clamped a hand on his shoulder, jolting him back into action, and asked softly, "there are problem?"

Rush and Greer looked at each other and Greer replied quietly, "no, nothing's wrong sir."

Eli watched as Greer moved away from him and Rush as Scott said, "come on, ways clear," and then he and Greer were off, ascending to the surface and Eli and Rush hurried to catch-up to them. As they made their way up to the surface all Eli could think of was, _'Rush protected me... again'_ and he considered what had transpired as they'd tried to get out of the room they'd been in.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

_They all stood beside the cloth-covered entrance; Scott and Greer directly on either side of the entrance with Rush and Eli behind them; both gripping their 9 mils tightly in their hands. Scott nodded at Greer and Greer slipped the collapsible mirror that they'd been issued with as part of their kit between the cloth and the wall; which allowed him to survey the area beyond the cloth and for him to see that there was only one of the creatures guarding them. Carefully he pulled it back through the curtain and closed it up as he signalled to Scott that there was only one._

_Nodding and silently motioning, using military hand-signals, Scott told Greer to pull the curtain on three and he'd grab the creature._

_One... Eli looked at Rush nervously adjusting his grip on his weapon._

_Two... Greer removed his hands from his M-16 and stood ready to grab the curtain._

_Three... Scott made his move, Greer moved the curtain, Rush followed after Scott and then Eli._

_As Scott dived at the creature it began to turn but the butt of Scott's weapon knocked it for six. As he tried to hit it again though it grabbed his weapon, him as well, and threw him bodily away from it. Rush, who had come through directly after Scott, punched it with the hand he was holding his weapon in but it didn't do anything to the creature and only served to make Rush feel like he had two broken hands. The creature towered over him and went to swipe at his head when Eli shoved him aside; and whilst the creature missed Rush it didn't miss Eli._

_The sound of tearing material could be audibly heard in the corridor as Eli landed next to Rush in a slump, clutching his shoulder and trying desperately to not cry out. Greer went at the creature but it did the same to him as it did to Scott; it threw him a good several feet and into the wall of the corridor. It turned its attention back onto Rush and Eli and looked ready to take off Eli's head and something inside of Rush snapped._

_A fine and thin thread that had been dangling his restraint and control, and it snapped when the creature leaned down to grip Eli's shoulder which did cause him to whimper in agony. Rush was up on his feet before he could even think of anything, and moved with a speed and strength that he hadn't felt in a long, long time... it was a strength and speed that came from anger and protectiveness; purely instinctual, and absolutely terrifying for anyone on the receiving end._

_He rammed his body into the creatures with so much force that they both went crashing into the wall, but Rush didn't care about the fact that his injured shoulder was a bit more injured or that his broken hand was fast becoming more damaged and painful as he continued to pummel the creatures face over and over and-_

"_Rush," Scott's hand landed on Rush's shoulder and pulled him away from the creature, "it's out of it... heck, I'm pretty sure it's dead now."_

_Slowly reason and control and self-restraint came back to him and he began to breathe heavily as he processed what had just happened and what he felt. Eli was looking at him in shock and surprise and... Was that awe, he could see as he stared at his son? _'My son... my son... it tried... my son...'_ his mind felt slow as though it were a car which had the wrong fuel in it. Eli smiled slightly and nodded to him, a silent conversation between them that Greer and Scot didn't notice all that much; it was a silent "thank you for saving me", and Rush wanted to respond with a "you're my son, I'll always save you" but he couldn't... and he hated himself for it._

"_Come on, if they're really telepathic I'm guessing they'll notice his silence," Scott muttered gently as he helped Rush to stand, "Eli?" he looked to the Eli, who was being helped up by Greer._

"_I'm alright," Eli responded automatically, although the response wasn't all that believable due to the fact that he winced as he said it and the obvious blood on his tac-vest. Obviously Scott thought the same thing as Rush at that moment which was _'bull-'_ but Eli added, "I'm alright to move at least."_

_Scott nodded and said, "Just be more careful," and Eli gave him a glare that would've scared Rush if it had been directed at him. Scott grinned as Eli replied._

"_I'm not the one who punched the thing and then nearly got his head took off!" he exclaimed, his voice still low but filled with indignation and Rush felt that he should respond to that obvious dig at him._

"_Well, at least I wasn't the one who rugby-tackled said person and almost got their own head took off," he smirked at Eli and he swore that Eli looked as though he would quite happily throttle him, if he wasn't currently in need of being supported by Greer at least._

"_Okay, come on guys. We haven't got long," Scott cut into their little spat as he gave them both a stern glare and then nodded at Greer, "Help Eli for as long as he'll let you. I want to get out of this place."_

_Greer nodded but Eli muttered, "I'm perfectly capable of walking on my own," and just to prove it he pushed himself away from Greer, wobbled a bit but eventually held his own and gave Scott a smug look, "see."_

_Scott just shook his head in mild amusement and began to lead their way towards their freedom; the rest of them falling into step behind him._

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

Young crouched in the undergrowth next to the team he'd brought with him, waiting impatiently to see Scott's head poke out from the rock-face again; after the initial sighting of Scott's head Young had initially thought that they were coming out then but, when Scott had disappeared, Young realised that he had been checking the way out just encase, which had made him proud of the kid, _'he's definitely a good soldier'_ he thought as he finally saw Scott's head and then the rest of him appear from the rock-face again.

Scott looked about and noticed Young as he stood up in the midst of the undergrowth; a quick nod of his head and then a check on the others as they came out after him, and he was jogging over to meet with Colonel Young who smirked at the Lieutenant wryly, "Nice of you to join us again lieutenant."

Scott nodded and said, "It definitely is sir," and then looking behind him at Rush, Eli and Greer he said, "we'd best be getting back sir; these aliens are telepathic and we think they've gained some recon from us."

Taking in what Scott had just said, Young nodded and said, "Let's move out; I want to be back at the gate within the next twenty minutes!"

And the undergrowth around Young came to life as several camouflaged men stood up and began to make their way back to the gate; Rush, Eli and Greer joining them as Scott and Young brought up the rear. Scott said to the Colonel, his voice quiet, "I'd recommend silence from here-on-in sir, those creatures said there's some sort of animal that hunts using sound."

Young nodded and said; his voice softer and quieter than before, "I want silence people! No talking!"

There was a murmur of 'yes sirs' and a couple of nods as well as they continued on their way back to the gate in relative silence.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

It dove left and right, following and occasionally feinting to in one direction then going in the other, as it chased its prey through the trees, dodging the branches with a deft agility normally reserved for the most experienced of hunters. As it curved itself around a tree, in a slingshot-like movement, it picked up the sound of more prey not far away but it didn't let that distract it from its current quarry; which is dived upon and jabbed its throat with its powerful and poison-tipped beak. Its prey choked and shook and died as it dove in for its feast; the just rewards of its hunt.

All too soon however its prey was nothing more than skin and bones and it was _still_ hungry... and then it heard them again; those other creatures it had picked up before. It was then that it realised that it should be chasing them, hunting them down now, because it needed to stop feeling this _hunger_...

And then, with an almightily loud screech, it took off from the ground and swiftly made its way closer and closer to its next meal.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

They had just reached the gate, in less than fifteen minutes which Scott figured to be a record for them as of late, when it reached them. It dove towards them, dive-bombing them from up high and they scattered; like snooker balls on a snooker table. Three soldiers went towards the gate, Scott and Young dove for the trees to their right, Eli, Rush and Greer dove towards the trees to their left and one soldier threw himself to the ground.

And he was the unfortunate victim of the creature as it swept down and jabbed him in the throat with its poison-tipped beak. Scott and Young, both immediately seeing this, knew there was no hope for the young soldier and so decided to try and get the gate open. Scott looked around for Rush and saw to his satisfaction that the scientist had already had the same thought as he and Young.

Mere seconds after the assault by the creature the Stargate burst into life; the vortex exploding outwards and impacting the creature, wiping it from existence as the bonds tying its molecules together were ripped apart. The vortex collapsed back in upon itself and without waiting for a moment Young and Scott were up on their feet and were next to Rush and Eli, who couldn't stand up properly, and hauled them both up; Greer assisting them, and they all dived through the gate just as another creature swooped down and dived through an empty ring as the Stargate disengaged.


	11. Ten

**Hey, I've been in the mood for updating this and so I give you an update; I think the reason for that is because I've been making loads of Stargate vids on Youtube and so I've been in the mood =D **

**Enjoy.**

**KaseyKC **

* * *

**Ten**

* * *

"_The common eye sees only the outside of things, and judges by that, but the seeing eye pierces through and reads the heart and the soul, finding their capacities which the outside didn't indicate or promise, and which the other kind couldn't detect."__ - __MARK TWAIN,__Joan of Arc._

* * *

"Rush!"

"Eli!"

Greer! Get off him!"

"Move!"

"T.J!"

"ELI!"

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

People scrambled back as the Stargate engaged and four ragged people dove through, just after three soldiers had done so as the gate had literally connected. The four people landed in a heap on the ground directly in front of the gate which was shut-down as Young had screamed, "SHUT IT DOWN!"

Within moments the gate room was filled with shouting, tension and the occasional bang of cases being knocked over. The gate technician was on the radio calling for T.J to get to the gate-room quick as he watched Rush literally shove Greer off of an unconscious Eli with a desperation that was seldom seen in the man. Scott, who managed to untangle himself from Young, was beside Rush checking Eli over as Rush seemed to be trying to not panic too much and be of help at the same time.

As T.J ran into the gate-room followed by one of the soldiers who had basic-triage skills, the gate-room fell silent after Rush's terrified shout of, "He isn't breathing!"

Scott looked at Rush in worry and panic as T.J threw herself down next to Rush and shoved him aside. She gave Scott a quick glance and said quietly to him, "Get Rush out of here, now," before re-focusing on Eli and giving him CPR.

Scott slowly got to his feet and hauled Rush up, "come on Rush, Nicholas, come on," he said softly as he guided an almost catatonic Rush out of the gate-room; even though he didn't want to leave Eli, his friend, he understood that he would be of no use to T.J and would be the best one to... to console Rush if things went south, _'God, I swear to God he better make it, please Lord.... please,'_ he thought as the people parted and let them pass through the corridors without a hindrance.

Back in the gate-room T.J was furiously trying to get Eli to breathe again, her actions tinged with a desperation that was last seen when they'd first arrived on Destiny; it was a type of desperation that came from a person's absolute terror and fear and worry.

Young was stood behind T.J next to Greer and was watching in silence, before he suddenly clicked that there were a lot of people in the gate-room and he realised that T.J didn't need an audience; not one of this magnitude at least. He cleared his throat and said, in a voice that wavered slightly but was still resounding and as firm as it could be, "Everyone who shouldn't be here now, get out...." no-one moved at his demand so he took a breath and reiterated it again, in a louder and more firm tone, "Out! Now!" and people began to slowly leave the gate-room, all the while looking back at T.J and Eli; all of them worried about the kid.

Young looked around and, for the first time, noticed that Scott wasn't anywhere to be seen, "Where's the Lieutenant?"

As T.J was too busy to answer as she finally got Eli to breathe again, she had to worry about the bleeding laceration in his chest, so Greer answered, "He left with Rush sir. Rush looked like he was going to break down," _'God knows why... he hates everyone... doesn't he?'_ Greer looked down at Eli and muttered, "I don't think he was able to handle this..."

Young nodded and decided to leave it at that, he too was curious about Rush's reaction to all this but he wasn't going to mention anything right now. He looked at T.J and asked gently, "Is he going to be alright?"

T.J didn't look up as her nurse handed her the pressure bandages but she did answer Young's question, "he's breathing alright now but I think he might have cracked ribs; also this laceration is a bit worrying, I'm guessing it probably should've stopped bleeding by now?"

Greer nodded and then realised that she couldn't see him and said, "Yeah, it happened over half-an-hour ago," Young looked at him and he shrugged, "give or take sir."

T.J sighed and said, "Well, if that's the case then whatever did this probably has some sort of anti-coagulant on their-"

"Claws," Greer cut in, "He got slashed by one of the creature's claws when we were escaping."

"I've got a few different medicines from earth that I could use but I don't think anything of ours will work that well, so I'll have a look in Destiny's medical database; see if there's anything there that could be of use," T.J finished as she tied the bandage around Eli's chest; stemming the blood flow from the wound. She looked up at Young and Greer and said, "I'll need some help getting him to the infirmary."

Young and Greer looked at her, then each other before Young said, "We'll use that," Young sighed and said, "That _hover board_ Eli made to get him there."

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

Scott gently guided Rush over to the seats in the waiting room opposite the infirmary; he swore the guy was in a walking coma, he'd never seen him so... shell-shocked. He sat down to Rush and said gently, "He'll be alright Rush... he's your son afterall."

And much like Eli had done after the explosion weeks ago, Rush seemed to come back to life again and he sprung from his seat; looking much like a man on the edge. The edge of what, Scott wasn't all that keen to address because the last thing he needed was to think one of the best and most important people on Destiny was a few screwballs short of sanity.

Rush's mind went from all stop to all full in less than a second after Scott's comment, and he found himself standing in the middle of the waiting room shouting at Scott in Gaelic, feeling so afraid and so confused and so angry at _himself_ that he couldn't even verbalise how he really felt; all he could do was call Scott a bastard's son over and over.

Scott, though not able to understand Gaelic, had a pretty good idea of what Rush was calling him and figured it wasn't anything nice, but instead of stopping him he let rant and rave and he let him shout and scream because when Rush was done with all that, Scott knew that tears of pain, loss and self-hatred would come next; because if humans were one thing, they were incredibly predictable in times of crisis.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

They had managed to get the hover board to the gate-room relatively quickly and now they were all on their way to the infirmary; Young at the front, parting the people on the corridors, and Greer at the rear, stopping anyone from crowding too closely. If Young had ever doubted how much the crew of the Destiny cared about Eli his faith in them was duly restored, _'Damn, you'd think the kid was a celebrity...'_ he thought as he nodded as a couple of the soldiers moved a few of the dumbstruck scientists out of the middle of the corridor, _'maybe he is to this lot... he's got Rush's smarts but he ain't half as mean,' _he thought about that for a second then amended, _'not when he has enough sleep at least.'_

They had just reached the infirmary doors; they were quite thankful that the corridor leading to it had been clear of people since that made going down it a lot easier, when they heard shouting from the waiting room. Young and Greer where both on the immediate alert and were about to enter when they froze at the next shout they heard.

"HE'S MY SON!"

Neither of them could mistake the Scottish lilt to the words and neither of them could pretend to have not heard it when the waiting door opened as Rush shouted over his shoulder at Scott, "My son!"

And Rush couldn't pretend to not see Young and Greer standing in front of the infirmary looking like they had just been hit by a tonne of bricks; and he also couldn't pretend to not see the two lummoxes blocking access to the infirmary.

"Move! You're in her way!" he barked, his voice filled with a contradictive mixture of anger and calmness which made the pair move without even hesitating; they both knew well of how parents could be when their children were under threat.

'_Eli.... Rush.... Rush is.... damn..._' was all that Young could think as he watched Rush storm through the infirmary door after T.J, _'how? Did he even....' _he couldn't do anything other than stand there in the middle of the corridor as Scott came out of the waiting room and said to him, "It's a bit of a shock for everyone who knows too sir."

That got Young's mind going again, "who else knows?" he asked Scott as he finally moved into the infirmary, followed by Scott and Greer.

"Just us in this room sir, no-one else," Scott replied, "I didn't think it was a good idea for it to be public knowledge," he admitted as he looked over to T.J and Rush who were conversing; each giving the unconscious Eli worried glances at regular intervals.

Young nodded and said, "Good idea, I don't want anyone to know about this unless Eli and Rush say it's okay, understand?" he looked from Scott, who nodded immediately, to Greer, who nodded slowly, as though he was still trying to comprehend it all.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

Rush stood with T.J as she explained her theory and what she needed to find in the medical database, she hoped that by including Rush in trying to find a counter-drug for the anti-coagulant in Eli's blood that his sense of guilt; which was incredibly obvious, would be lessened.

"I don't know what I'll be looking for-" she continued but Rush cut her off before she could even explain in greater detail.

"You'll need the sub-branch of the medical database that focuses on blood; it's not that difficult to find but it's a bit tedious to translate," Rush said as he moved further away from Eli and over to one of the active computer consoles in the infirmary; he quickly tapped into the medical database and was already searching for the necessary drug when Eli came to.

"Wha..." he mumbled as his eyes opened sluggishly and T.J was immediately at his side. She checked his pupil dilation and then realised the Rush would drop everything to be next to Eli and so pre-empted him.

"Nicholas," she referred to him using his first name in the hopes that it would focus his attention on her, and it did, "I need you to find that drug; quickly."

Rush was torn, he wanted to be at his son's side, to help him and tell him he was going to be alright, but he knew that he needed to find this drug for Eli or he might not be able to do much more than be at his death bed... and he couldn't do that again; not with family, not with someone he cared about. And so he looked at T.J, and she saw the anguish in his eyes and the way his heart was being torn, and nodded silently. He scoured the sub-branch of the medical database at such a speed that Scott truly doubted he was actually reading what was coming up, because there is absolutely no way anyone can read _that_ fast!

After what felt like years of searching through all the text, but was actually less than five minutes, Rush found what they were looking for and dove away from the console and over to a compartment on the opposite wall; making Young and Scott scramble out of his way in the process. He hit a couple of buttons on the wall and the compartment doors slide open to reveal a huge collection of drugs and needles; he looked at them, quickly finding the one he needed and snatched a needle before the compartment closed automatically as he moved away and over to T.J. Rush stood in front of her and said quickly, "this is what you need; it needs to be injected at the-the point of impact, s-so that would be the w-wound."

T.J nodded in thanks and Rush stepped out of her way and up next to Eli who was lying on one of the beds and staring blearily at the lights over-head. He leaned down close to Eli's head and said softly, "you'll be alright son... I promise...." he smiled at Eli as he slowly nodded and gripped his hand tightly; almost as if he was saying 'stay... don't go' and Rush thought that was the most absurd thing ever because he'd never leave his son ever again; not if he could help it and even then he'd be damned if he left quietly.

T.J injected the serum into the wound and Eli winced and gripped Rush's hand tighter, and Rush belatedly realised that it was his damaged hand. Rush, in a sudden action, winced and his hand jolted, almost pulling out of Eli's hand but he stopped the natural reflex just in time; at Eli's bleary but questioning gaze he choked out, "sorry... reflex action; broken hands don't like being crushed a second time."

Eli's eyebrows knitted together and Rush could feel Eli's grip on his hand loosening but he didn't want that, he didn't want him to slip away and so he said, "no, no, it's alright; I don't think it's broken just bruised," Eli eyed him dubiously and if he could have spoken, Rush was certain he would have said that that was a load of bull, "well, it's not very broken," he shrugged and gasped in pain as his shoulder injury also made itself known, "ow...." he breathed softly, "I'm investing in full-body-armour..."

Eli's eyes reluctantly slid shut as T.J injected him with a sedative but Rush was certain that through the oxygen mask on his son's face that he could see a smile on Eli's face, and that made Rush smile sadly; just as he himself passed out from pain and exhaustion, and he would've landed in a heap on the infirmary floor if it hadn't been for Young, Scott and Greer's attentiveness as they grabbed him and quickly hauled him up onto the bed next to Eli's.

Scott stood back as T.J checked Rush over and couldn't resist one jibe at her, "hey T.J," she looked at him and he wondered if he should just shut-up now, "they must really enjoy your company you know?" she glared at him but didn't say anything, but the glare said everything and he grinned out of sudden fear for what she would do now that Rush had discovered a whole new supply of needles for T.J to stab and jab him with.

* * *

**TBC...**


	12. Eleven

**Here's chapter eleven of this; I'm updating this now but I don't think I'll be updating this again until the weekend... possibly. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and this one is SO MUCH LONGER than my others so enjoy!**

**KaseyKC**

* * *

**Eleven**

* * *

"_The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...'__**"**__ - Isaac Asimov._

* * *

Science; it originates from the Latin word '_Scientia'_ which means '_knowledge'_. It is probably quite an apt meaning if one thinks about it; science is mankind's way of gaining knowledge about anything and everything, in the physical world at least. Observations, experiments, measuring, mathematics, repetition... all of these are methods used in modern day science to understand and comprehend what happens in a star, in the body, in the heart and in the head. Science is used by many to explain in greater detail what religion hasn't, or doesn't try to, science is an ideal, a concept that has to be believed just as much as a religion because you are putting your life; the way you live, on the line for something that is explained by numbers and chemical processes.

Science has hypotheses which are ideas and possible theories, or guesses to be more precise, about the nature of the universe, science also has theories which are ideas that have been proved via the repetition of experiments that have been observed and data recorded. A scientific theory is usually given in a mathematical form, most usually an algebraic equation, and are always subjected to constant doubts and retesting; afterall, these theories are used to explain the nature of the universe itself, they have to be accurate don't they?

Rush had always found science to be fascinating to him; even though he wasn't exactly the most happy of children when younger, he had always found that science was one of the few things that could bring a smile to his face and laughter into his heart. When his father had come home from working at the docks in Glasgow he would hide away in his room, fearful of how he father would be acting after working so hard and going to the pub with a few fellow workers for a few hours, and would study the stars from his small bedroom window; he had none of the great luxuries that many of his classmates had but he found that he had no use for them, the stars were more than enough of a luxury for him.

As he'd grown, and survived all his father's drunk-rages, young Nicholas had discovered that he had the best ability; he could do maths to a degree that far surpassed his fellow students and most certainly his teachers. With this newfound knowledge Rush chose to head to the small library that wasn't too far from his home every day after school; knowing he had to be home in time for his father to return or he would get an extra hiding from him. So for almost two years, from his fourteenth birthday, Rush attended the small library; soaking up all the knowledge on science that he could, learning every little thing that he could find about the stars, about mathematics, about physics, and he loved it. He loved every moment of it; it was his way of escaping the world, of escaping his father, of escaping his awful life.

He'd been seventeen years of age when his father had finally declared him a fellow dock worker, and his world shattered. No college, no university, no more science; no more star gazing for him. No, reality was knocking at his door and had come to repossess his life. And that had been that; he had began working at the docks, hour-upon-hour of hard, back-breaking labour that made his harder, stronger, tougher than he'd ever been before. He learnt how to fight on the docks; to save his own skin because his father had made it abundantly clear that he wasn't going to save him.

And when he turned eighteen he continued to work on the docks; doing the same thing day-in and day-out, never changing, never having enough energy at the end of the day to look up and marvel at the stars. The stars were a dream, a million missed opportunities away, and he was too exhausted to dream any longer. But mere weeks before he was to turn nineteen his father died; an accident on the docks it was wrote-off as, but it didn't hurt Rush, it didn't break his heart, he didn't lament the loss of his father. No, he smiled and felt free again, he felt life's opportunities open up to him again; sure, he had missed two years of learning, he had to catch-up fast and get to a college for at least a one-year course before he could go to university, but he was _free_! And that was all he thought about as they had carted his father's carcass through the streets, to the cemetery, into the grave and buried it six feet under, that was all he thought until he realised he had to get moving.

He gained possession of the home that he'd lived in since he was young, and recognised that though it was only two-bedroomed, that it was too much space for him and decided to sell it on to a young couple who were looking for a first home; they didn't mind that it was sort of run down, it lowered the price of it anyway, and the man said he'd been looking for a 'fixer-upper' so they bought it, he got the money and found a small flat in Glasgow city that wasn't too far from the docks but close to the main library and the college also. Realising that he would need some sort of job to support him in his studies he chose to continue working at the docks but fewer hours, and though he would still be doing the back-breaking labour he was now accustomed to, he would also be working in the office as an accountant for the boss; gaining a bit more cash that went under the table and not on his pay-check.

Life slowly improved for him as he joined the college when the next term began and studied physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science and, for an extra degree, psychology. His class load was sometimes a bit high for him, and he occasionally found it difficult to juggle his job and his learning at certain times of the year, but on the whole his learning was pretty easy and his work slowly began to turn away from manual-labour and more into accountancy, which allowed for him plenty of energy and more time to learn. But the time he was twenty he had already completed two-year courses in all of the subjects he was taking and left college with the best grades a dock-worker like him could ever have hoped for. But university was next; and competition was wrought between students vying for places.

But Rush didn't have to worry about that all too much; the dean of the university was a regular poker player at the weekly game his boss at the docks held, and after he worked his mathematical genius on the books at the docks his boss did him the favour of getting a guaranteed place at Glasgow university. And Rush's path was set in stone from then on.

Spending two years in university was like a heaven to Nicholas; to be surrounded by dozens of people who wanted to learn just as much as him, and engulfed in endless amounts of knowledge, it was nirvana to him. His first year was filled with inspiriting speeches and sermons from his professors to him about 'how he could go far in the field of science' and 'his mind was one of the greatest upon the earth', and his first year was also the year that he met his true love; the one woman who he would always cherish and adore, no matter what. Gloria had been her name and he'd walked into her on one of the corridors outside the arts theatre, sending them both crashing to the ground in a hail of falling books and flying papers; and he'd stared into her eyes at a loss for anything to say when he'd seen who he'd crashed into. His heart had been all aflutter with feelings he'd never felt before, not for any girl he'd ever known in his life prior, and not any girl since.

She'd smiled at him and apologised for walking into _him_, not him into her but the other way around; like _she_ was to blame. And Rush had never heard such an absurd thing in his entire life; ignoring the idea that that dimwit in college had about the moon being made out of cheese of course. He smiled at her and had corrected her, stumbling over his own words as he'd apologised to the beautiful lass who'd smiled and laughed at his lame attempt to joke, and blushed when he'd said he'd walked into her because he'd been so distracted by her beauty.

Pretty soon after that they had got together, and at the behest of her parents had married because they both vowed to never part from the others company; and then it had all ended in a blaze of explosions and destruction. Four months after they had married, she had come to the science labs and had been watching him and his friends absolutely insane experiment; the reaction between Aluminium and Iron Oxide, which can also be known as a Thermite reaction. The experiment would have been fine had it not been for the incorrect measurements of the two substances as well as the presence as hydrogen gas from a recent, separate experiment.

As a result of the incorrect measurements and the presence of hydrogen the experiment was indeed spectacular and full of explosions caused by the reaction of the substances, but those explosions shouldn't have been as... destructive as they were. After the initial explosion, the lab looked like it had been the setting for an epic war film, and the casualties were quite plain for those to see; the ones who survived however would live with the knowledge for decades to come.

Rush spent three months recovering in hospital, three months living without her, three months of survivor's guilt before it came to a head. Her father had come to visit him; and Rush had dearly hoped that he was going to end his life there and then but no, he came to talk to him and make him realise that she would never want him to just give up. His rallying speech had made Rush realise that though she was gone, she wouldn't be gone from his heart and mind and all he needed to do for her was live, live life and go back to work. Go back to science, go back to the stars and just imagine her face smiling at him in each and every single one of them.

When he was finally able to walk again; four months after the entire incident, the first place he went was to her grave with a single white rose held in his grasp. And he left it for her, left on the headstone that marked her resting place and the place where he hoped one day to rest alongside her.

A place at Area 51 opened up, after one of the scientists had an unfortunate run-in with an alien device that was less than hospitable to human brains, and he took it when the Air Force knocked on his door looking all professional and cold. He left Glasgow, he left Scotland, he left the United Kingdom and went to the other side of the Atlantic; finding that the climate was too hot, the people too fat, and the technology far too fascinating and deadly to be in the hands of so many bumbling idiots.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

"Is he awake yet?" Young asked T.J as he walked into the infirmary; it had been near-enough two days since the incident on the planet with the raptors and both Rush and Eli were still out of it. He stood in between the two beds which had Rush and Eli on them; Rush on his left and Eli on his right.

"No, neither of them are; I've kept Eli sedated since I want him to be able to heal quicker and Rush is absolutely exhausted so I didn't even need to use a sedative on him," T.J sighed feeling like she reliving groundhog day over and over; for the last two days Young had checked on them, asking the same question every few hours and every time T.J answered the same. She was rather certain that if he asked her again that she wouldn't be held responsible for what she would do to him; although then she'd have to spend more of her time patching his sorry-ass up once she was finished with him.

Young watched her as she checked Eli's pulse and pupil reactions before asking, "How badly were they injured?"

T.J busied herself with checking Rush once she was done with Eli, and used that time to try and find a way of explaining their injuries without crying, shouting, or threatening them with more harm when they awoke, "Badly... three of Eli's ribs were cracked, one of them broken and almost pierced a lung. The laceration had signs of an infection, and the anti-coagulant that was in his blood made treating him harder; it's a good thing Rush found that coagulant or I doubt I could've save Eli..." she swallowed and took a deep breath trying to control her breathing, "Rush's shoulder was dislocated; how that happened neither Scott or Greer can really explain in enough detail, his right hand is bruised to buggary and two of his fingers are broken; I've strapped them for now but he won't be doing much with that hand for a good few weeks. His other hand," she shook her head as she turned to look at Young, "it's a mess; at first I thought that he'd crushed his hand, maybe under a rock or boulder, but when I looked closer I discovered that he's ripped the skin and first layer of muscle to heck! If I didn't know better I'd swear someone had tried to skin him and hadn't done it right!"

"Scott said something about a creature that attacked them; apparently Rush 'caved it's skull in'," Young said slowly as T.J moved away from her two patients and over to her office. He watched as she sat herself down and ran a hand through her messy hair; if he didn't know better he'd swear she hadn't slept in over a day, "when did you last get some shut-eye?"

She didn't answer him and instead shot him a glare, she didn't want to tell him that she hadn't slept in over eighteen hours because she knew that he'd literally kick her out of the infirmary with an order to get some sleep; but she had patients she had to care for. Of course, her not wanting to tell him when she'd last slept was pretty much a giveaway to him as well as a perfectly timed yawn.

"Go, at least four hours," he ordered looking at her sternly. Knowing she was going to protest that she needed to be here for her patients he added, "I'll keep an eye on them, now go."

She yawned one last time before standing slowly and saying, "I'll be back in four hours; if anything happens... use a trumpet to wake me up with."

Young smirked as he watched her leave her office and he followed her out into the infirmary, not taking his eyes off her until she was out of the doors and had turned in the direction of her quarters. He then turned his attention to the two sleeping beauties on the beds and muttered, "Oh they best not wake-up until she's had at least _five_ hours," as he moved a stool over towards their beds and sat down on it; in between their beds so he could check on the pair of them without moving from one side of the infirmary to the other.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

When T.J finally managed to get some shut-eye she found that she had slept like the dead and that over six hours had passed since she'd been kicked out of her own infirmary; which, if she hadn't been so utterly exhausted, would never have happened. She quickly got a shower, conserving the amount of water she used; even though Rush and Eli had assured her that Destiny was capable of recycling over 90% of used water, she still was reluctant to waste supplies. Throwing on her army uniform she realised for the first time that it was covered in blood, 'oh... I'm not going to wear that now,' she thought as she discarded the clothing in a pile on the floor by her bed. She looked at the wardrobe, or she figured it was a wardrobe, and decided to be brave, 'let's see what type of clothing Destiny invests in.'

Moving over to the wardrobe she tapped the screen next to the door and it slid open to reveal an entire shelf full of plain clothes that looked to be of varying sizes and styles, "wow..." she breathed as she pulled out a plain white, knee-length shirt and a pair of white pants that she guessed went together. Quickly throwing them on before she could change her mind about them, she grabbed her army uniform and left her quarters; detouring to the washing-room where she placed her clothes in the pile of dirty washing that looked to be steadily mounting, before heading to the infirmary.

Ignoring the strange looks some of the scientists gave her and her attire she quickly entered the infirmary to see Young snoring and Rush about to doodle on his face; how he was able to hold the marker pen was as intriguing to T.J as where he'd got it in the first place. She swiftly made her way over to his bed and grabbed the pen just before it landed on Young's face; Rush looked at her innocently and Young awoke with a startled grunt. Quickly letting go of the pen Rush lay back down on the bed and said in a falsely-innocent voice, "T.J... what are you trying to do to Colonel Young?"

Young frowned at the pen that was less than a centimetre from his face and said, "T.J?" his voice a quiet growl of mixed curiosity and annoyance.

T.J's eyebrows raised as she realised how it must look and she made a mental note to strangle Rush when she had the chance; and wouldn't be charged with murder for it, as she moved the pen away from Young's face and said lamely, "sorry sir."

Young resisted the urge to give her a dressing down as he looked at Rush and noticed a pen lid by his elbow, "it's alright T.J... I'm sure you were only stopping _Doctor_ _Rush_ here from giving me a moustache," he glared at Rush who blinked innocently at him.

He leaned towards Rush and picked up the pen lid, then holding it right on Rush's eye-line he said, "next time you want to lay the blame on someone else, try and hide all incriminating evidence," before he tossed it at Rush's head with a smirk.

T.J watched the interaction before saying, "how long have you been awake Rush?"

Rush looked at her and answered, watching as she held the pen in both hands, "about twenty minutes, snoring beauty here woke me," he frowned as he took in her attire, "where are you regular clothes T.J?"

She shrugged and answered, "In the wash," Young looked at her and she expanded, "they're covered in blood and I found these in the wardrobe in my quarters; there's enough in there to cloth half the people on Destiny sir."

Young nodded and said, "It goes with the decor."

"Is Eli awake?" Rush asked as T.J glared at Young, he looked across at his son and noticed that he was still wearing the oxygen mask and his chest was wrapped in a fair number of bandages where the _raptor_ had caught him.

"No, I've got him sedated since I thought it'd be easier for his body to recuperate that way but," she checked her watch, "he should be waking up in the next ten minutes or so."

Rush nodded silently and Young stood up and moved out of his line of sight, realising that Rush was only comfortable when he could actually see Eli and know he was alright. He observed his son and noticed how strange it was for him to be so still and so silent; Eli was meant to be running around with a childlike enthusiasm and talking at a hundred miles an hour about the Kino's or referencing some absurd Star Trek episode. He wasn't meant to be quiet and stationary; he was too much like a star that was just coming into existence, too alive and too full of energy to be so still.

"He'll be fine Rush, after the sedatives worn off he'll be back to being the Eli we all know and love," T.J said gently as she laid a hand on his arm and squeezed it reassuringly, "but I need to make sure you're alright."

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

After almost half-an-hour after T.J had re-entered the infirmary Eli's eyes slowly opened to be greeted by the blinding glare of penlight and the sound of her talking.

"Eli, how do you feel?" she asked as he groaned and tried to turn his head away from the light, which she wisely put away once she was satisfied that he didn't have a concussion, "come on Eli; I thought you liked to talk?"

He glared at her and she smiled at him as he pulled the mask off his face and croaked, "Rush?" before coughing slightly at the dryness of his throat.

"Easy, here have some water," T.J held out a glass of water with a straw in it and helped him sip some of the cool liquid, "you've got several cracked ribs so don't talk too much."

Nodding slowly he asked again, "Rush?" his voice sounding less like a bullfrog's and more like his own. T.J looked behind her and smiled, he looked over to where she was staring and found Rush smiling at him, like a father. He smirked at him and said, "You look like crap."

Rush grinned and replied, "you don't look too good yourself _junior_," he laughed when Eli glared at him. He found it incredibly fun to tease Eli sometimes and by calling him 'junior' he'd discovered another term that he could torture his son with.

"You look worse _old timer_... I'll get you a simmer-frame for your birthday; you'll need it," Eli breathed as Rush laughed at his insult and Young snorted; T.J just sighed and decided to stop their arguing before it did them damage, or she did depending.

"Rest now, argue later, "she declared glaring at Eli and then at Rush, she wasn't going to have them torturing her like they did last time they were in her infirmary, "and no attempts at the great escape; my sanity can't take it."

Rush grinned at Eli and Young looked from Rush to Eli and then to T.J before asking, "Great escape?"

* * *

**TBC...**


	13. Twelve

**I'm sorry I haven't updated this for a little while; I have my real exams coming up this month and I've been revising like crazy (since I can only go to the Leaver's Ball if I have at least 20 certified revision sessions... darn society!) **

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter which I've tried to make as long as my previous chapter; I think I failed, but it's still pretty long.**

**KaseyKC**

**Twelve**

"_There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."__- __Oscar Levant__._

T.J was silent as she sat and listened to the bumbling escape attempt taking place outside her office; though she should probably go out there and shout at them for making a racket and injuring themselves further she found that she was quite happy to simply sit there in her chair and listen to Eli tell Rush to shut-up and Rush tell Eli to stop walking into things. It was quite entertaining for her, especially since the duo had been trying to constantly escape from her 'clutches' for the past week and a half; she'd never known anyone to try and use the ventilation system as an escape route from an infirmary; it was tantamount to the stupid bygone idea of digging your way out of a concrete cell.

For a full ten minutes she listened to the laughable escape attempt before the sound of something falling to the ground echoed around the infirmary and her office, _'I think that's enough playing for them today'_ she thought as she sighed and stood up; listening to the sound of Rush cursing in Scottish and Eli laughing loudly, _'I hope they never try to rescue me... the bad guys'll know where they are just by the noise they make alone'._

She opened the door manually, not bothering herself with thinking all that much, and stopped-short as she took in the sight. Rush was lying on the infirmary ground with an inflatable... _thing_ on top of him and Eli was damn-nearing having a fit as he leaned against the wall.

"Eli! Help me!" Rush ground out as he tried to push the thing off of him to no avail; whatever it was it was a whole lot heavier than it looked and Rush's shoulder couldn't support its weight, "Eli! It's heavy!"

Eli seemed to snap out of his laughing fit at that for he was over by Rush's side trying to shove the thing off of his father, 'now why doesn't that sound strange anymore?' T.J absently wondered as she said, "What on earth!"

They both stopped in their attempts to get the thing off of Rush and looked at her for a moment before Eli said, "Technically, it would be 'what on Destiny'."

She glared at him and resisted the urge to smack him upside the head, choosing instead to assist him in freeing Rush from the clutches of the inflatable thing. After a great deal of tugging, pulling and occasional pained curses from Rush, they managed to haul it off him and out of the way; the darn thing was a whole lot heavier than she'd realised. Rush lay there on the ground panting hard, trying to control the pain in his shoulder, and T.J belatedly realised that he had probably injured his shoulder _again_. She knelt next to him and said softly, "Let me check."

Alarm bells rang out in her head when Rush offered no verbal or physical resistance to her order; it was annoying when he refused to let her look at an injury or argued with her about a strap, but compared to his pliancy when he was in such as degree of pain as she figured he was now it was much preferable. At least when he was bitching she knew it wasn't that bad...

Eli leaned back against the wall as he watched nervously as T.J checked Rush's injured shoulder and then his mostly healed hand without him resisting in any way, _'oh God.... he must be really hurt... he got trapped under that... and I laughed... I laughed at him....' _he closed his eyes as the suddenly appearing guilt made itself known with a vengeance, _'he protected me from that thing on the planet... he protected me from Greer.... and when he needed my help I laughed at him... oh God... what sort of son am I?'_

T.J carefully rotated Rush's shoulder and felt bad when he winced and stifled a cry of pain, she was the only doctor on Destiny and she was meant to _heal_ people not hurt them; even if it was so she could do her job better. She quickly checked Rush's hand and was pleased that the attempt to free himself from the thing hadn't done any damage to them, they were healing nicely and within a week or so he would be able to use them all again, 'and find something to tinker away with and maybe have his fingers demolecularised knowing his luck!' she thought as she looked at him and noted that he seemed to have most of the pain under control, 'which isn't a good thing really' she looked at Eli and said slowly, noticing how guilt-ridden Eli looked, "Eli? Could you help me get Rush back to his bed please?"

Eli's eyes snapped open and he looked at T.J with a surprised look before nodding mutely and slowly rising and lumbering over to T.J and Rush. Together the pair of them managed to get Rush standing, albeit with him leaning on Eli by a fair amount, and they slowly manoeuvred him over to his bed. T.J quickly tidied his pillow and blanket up before the pair of them helped him into bed and T.J took off to grab a needle full of happy-go-lucky morphine which would make Rush think he was floating up with the Ancients.

Eli sat down on a stool next to Rush's bed and held his father's hand as Rush winced and whimpered slightly from the almost unbearable pain in his shoulder; he made a mental note to never try and escape from the infirmary with a dislocated shoulder, it was too painful an experience for him. Eli's heart was beginning to become weighed-down by this guilt he was feeling, _'God... how many times has he saved my ass to date? Seven... eight? I don't know.... but it's a bigger amount than the number of times I've saved him... I shouldn't have laughed... I should've realised... I've got a brain haven't I? Should be able to use it too.... and I didn't even realise... God... if he hadn't had said it was so heavy I'd have never known... I'd have continued to laugh my head off whilst he was in agony... oh God!'_

T.J quickly made her way back to Rush's bed and injected him with the morphine through the IV drip that she re-attached in the crook of his elbow. Within mere minutes Rush's eyes were fluttering closed and the evident pain he was feeling had been numbed and he was just slipping under when he slurred, "Not.... you're fault... accident.... son..."

T.J looked at Eli whose eyes had focused on Rush's now slack face with shock and guilt conflicting within the dark orbs, though she would never admit it she felt the sudden urge to hug him and tell him it was all going to be okay, and she probably would have done exactly that had her medical-professionalism hadn't have stopped her.

Instead she comforted him by placing a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently and saying softly, "He'll be fine, no lasting damage," he didn't respond to her and so she sighed and added, trying to sound kind but firm at the same time, "Come on, you need to get back in bed and get some rest."

Eli slowly shook his head slightly and said, his voice so quiet that T.J doubted she would've heard it if it weren't for the silence of the infirmary, "Can I just sit here for a little while?"

She recognised immediately that Eli needed a bit of time to sort-out his guilt and so decided to give him ten minutes, "Alright, but only for twenty minutes," _'okay so I added an extra ten minutes,_' "you do need to get some rest Eli."

He nodded silently and she resisted the urge to sigh out loud as she turned away and made her way over to her office, fully intending on sitting in there for twenty minutes before she would have to drag Eli to his bed, but she stopped just on the threshold, out of Eli's sight, when she heard Eli's voice echo around the infirmary sounding for all the world like that of the most conflicted human being to ever have existed.

"I'm.... so, _so_ sorry... you've saved my life... so many times.... you've fixed my messes... heck you decked a raptor to keep me breathing and went up against Greer when he was going to lynch me! And I repay you by laughing at you when you need help.... what kind of son am I?"

T.J's heart was breaking there and then and what Eli said next really made her want to turn around and embrace him, rocking him and humming to him, to reassure him that he was a _brilliant_ son.

"I remember when my... well, I guess he'd be my step-dad wouldn't he really? Anyway... I remember when he left my mom and me... I used to stay up late at night, listening to my mom crying... and I used to wonder whether _I_ was to blame... whether my dad left because he didn't want _me_ for a son.... it was no secret that I didn't like sports or cars or anything he did, he hated the fact that I liked working, _studying_ and technology.... I mean I was fourteen when he left; I wasn't even old enough to shave! I thought what any other fourteen year old would've thought when their dad left; I thought it was _me_, I thought _I_ was the problem... I thought I'd screwed up my relationship with my dad and then... then I find out _you're_ my actual dad and I have a chance to have a _real_ father-son relationship again... I have the chance to do it right! And I messed up... like I always do... my teachers were right about me... I'm too much of a slacker... I don't try hard enough... I give up too easily... and when everyone's done fixing my mistakes I still expect them to talk to me and be there for when I mess up again!"

Eli rubbed a hand over his face and sighed dejectedly, God how much of a screw up was he! "When that explosion happened in the lab and you saved my skin all I could think about was how you'd nearly died trying to protect me... I remember saying to myself '_why_? Why would he save _you_? You're _nothing_... you're worth less to the people on Destiny that he'll _ever be'_.... and it's taken me this long to figure it out.... I'm a screw up and everything I do will _always_ need to be checked over, redone and fixed otherwise _people will get hurt, people will die...._ I really wish there was a planet somewhere that I could go to and just stay... be out of everyone's way, not do any harm to anyone... but then I realise that if I do end up on a planet somewhere then I'd have the bad luck of coming across aliens that might use me to get to Destiny and everyone on her and then I'd have screwed up _again_!"

Standing up slowly Eli looked up at the ceiling, as though he were searching for some sort of guidance, and muttered bitterly, "Jesus! I really can't do _anything_ right!"

He moved away from Rush's bed, over towards his own and, before he climbed into his bed, he looked at Rush and said softly, "you'd best be alright... I can't handle all the scientists on my own."

T.J listened to the sound of Eli crawling into bed and as he made himself comfortable before slowly turning around and walking back into the infirmary, acting like she hadn't heard anything that Eli had just said, "I see you're getting yourself comfortable."

Eli gave her a half-hearted smile as she came over and quickly checked his IV port in the crook of his elbow, "well... these cardboard torture pieces of equipment are just too appealing for me to avoid for too long a time."

"Less of the cheek you," she scolded lightly with a teasing smirk on her face, "or I'll keep you in here for an extra week; see how all those science geeks handle their withdrawal from the weekly rounds of verbal torture with you two."

Eli glared at her, but it lacked any real strength, and said softly, "Destiny would have a meltdown; literally."

She laughed at that and patted him on the arm gently before saying, "Get some sleep okay?"

"Okay _doctor_," Eli responded as he lay his head back on his pillow and closed his eyes as T.J gave him a glare before disappearing into her office.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

It had been over two weeks when Scott appeared in the infirmary with a grin on his face as he entered the infirmary to the sound of T.J reprimanding Rush and Eli for trying to escape _again_; on the day they were going to be realised in the first place.

"Rush! You _cannot_ take off the sling! I don't care if you need to take it off so you can slip through the door quicker! You _will not take it off_! Understand?" T.J ordered sternly as she stood directly in front of a glaring Rush, hands on her hips and a glare that far surpassed Rush's own.

Eli was stood off to the side, not looking at the scene being made but it was quite obvious that he was barely retaining the straight-faced look he had; he swore Rush was only arguing with her just to annoy her, _'it wouldn't surprise me actually... especially after the last time we were in her... we made her cry by the end of it....'_ he sighed as Rush growled, actually growled, at T.J and Eli decided that might have to be when he interrupted their little I'm-going-to-glare-you-to-death dance before it got messy.

"Rush, I can do the manual labour, you can stand at your console all day and be a happy, if slightly pissed-off, genius whilst I'll be lugging pointless cables out of the way for hours on end. That sound good? Yes, okay then!" he grinned at Rush and looked at T.J, "thank you, yes I know I shouldn't be doing any manual labour with my injury, yes it's sort of painful still and no, I'm not going to let you check it one more time; I've already been discharged and I'm about to physically discharge _him_ from your care. It'll give you some peace, so bye!"

Before T.J could say anything to the contrary Eli had grabbed Rush's unstrapped arm and hauled him towards the infirmary door and slipped past Scott who was standing by the threshold grinning like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. He watched Eli and Rush disappear down the corridor before saying to T.J, "you look like you've recently gone insane."

"I'm always going insane when those two are in here," T.J sighed as she threw herself onto one of the stools in the infirmary, "Do they do it on purpose or do they actually get _that_ bored?"

"Maybe they like your mother-hen glare?" Scott suggested innocently before grinning at T.J's glare and saying, "Oh, yes, I can see why they like it mother-hen."

T.J shot up from the stool and literally threw herself after Scott who, laughing his head off, ran off down the corridor in the same direction that Eli and Rush had went; he made sure that T.J was always behind him, not disappearing round the corridors corners but still not close enough to take his head off.

He dove at the mess hall door thanking the heavens for the small, peep-hole like things on them which allowed for someone on the other side to see he was coming and open the door in time for him to not slam into it. He skidded to a halt and turned around jubilantly as T.J stormed into the mess hall, about to give him the most verbalised beating in his life, and he shouted, "Happy birthday!"

The mess hall, which had been silent, suddenly erupted into life; shouting and cheers could be heard probably on the other side of Destiny. T.J stood in front of the door into the mess with a look of absolute shock on her face, she couldn't believe it _'how did they? Who....' _she turned her head slightly when she heard the sound of singing and was gob-smacked to see Rush and Eli leading a group of the scientists in an awfully out of tune rendition of Happy Birthday; how someone could see that song out of tune she didn't really know but she wasn't dwelling on that since she was so, so happy... she hadn't told anyone it was her birthday so how did they know?

"_**Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!"**_

Scott sidled up next to her and said in her ear, "Why do you think they've been bugging you to discharge them so much?"

She looked at him in curiosity before realising, _'oh those-'_ she'd been wondering why they'd been in her office last Wednesday and hadn't really bought their excuse of searching for the best escape route, "I'm going to kill them..." she laughed as Scott grinned at her, "I'm really going to kill them!"

"You'll have to find them first, they've set-up hiding places throughout Destiny; guess they'll come in handy now," Scott laughed, "anyway, mother-hen have some ration-based cake... it's awful but it's the thought that counts; most of the time," he grimaced at the cake on centre-table in the mess hall and added, "although, the cooks did say something about finding a supply of sweeteners or something..."

T.J looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said, "I think I'll risk it; like you said, it's the thought that counts."

"Well... it is if the gift doesn't kill you first," he shrugged and smirked at her alarmed gaze, "only kidding."

"T.J! Come get some cake!" Eli shouted, as he hurried away from the scientists, deciding to leave Rush with their singing skills. He stopped beside her and said, "happy birthday T.J," he smiled at her and she finally gave him a hug which he duly returned with a great deal of enthusiasm as he bounced on the balls of his feet; feeling like he was on a sugar rush, which wasn't possible since they didn't have any sugar on Destiny beyond what they had in the supplies they'd brought from Icarus.

She laughed and nodded, "alright, I'll risk it," and was surprised when Eli glared at her, 'oh... have I hit a nerve?' but she needn't have been worried because he grinned at her and began to drag her across the mess.

"Oh come on! Do you think ration-cake will offend me? It might give me food-poisoning or something like that, but it would never offend me!" he grinned at her and stopped in front of the ration-cake before saying thoughtfully, "although... the cooks did say something about making it quite the surprise for us all.... hm."

"Eli, stop looking at my cake like you want to dissect it," T.J warned as she too looked at it. She took in the fact that it wasn't very decorated, which wasn't a surprise since they had limited supplies, and it didn't look all that appealing to eat.

"Well technically, you're _meant_ to dissect a cake... you know, cutting it up into slices that you can _eat_?" Eli said slowly, ignoring T.J's glare at him, he grinned at Scott and T.J whacked him lightly on his arm.

"Oh shut up!" she muttered as she looked at Scott who had somehow managed to procure a knife, where from she wouldn't ask, and took it from him as he held it out for her, "otherwise I won't give you any cake."

"Oh... that'll break my heart," Eli joked, placing a hand over his heart, "no ration-cake for me."

She ignored him as she made the first cut and cut out a thin slice, which she placed on one of the plates that they'd found in Destiny's kitchens. Putting the knife down next to the cake she picked up the small fork and then the plate, she realised that the mess had gone awfully quiet, as though everyone was waiting for her to take a bite and give her verdict on it; it was sort of pressuring.

Slowly she cut into the slice and picked up a little segment with the fork which she lifted to her lips, trying to ignore the obvious apprehension in the air, and began to chew it slowly, checking the taste of it and trying not to smile. It was divine; which was shocking in itself, 'oh wow... how have they done this?' she thought as she swallowed and smiled widely, "delicious."

**TBC...**

**I won't be updating this anytime soon; maybe a few weeks so... sorry in advance.**

**KaseyKC**


	14. Thirteen

**Well, I've actually finally updated this fic. I'm quite amazed by that you know. And I'm even more amazed that I found something to actually write about for more than one page. Wow, I'm getting good!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and I do not know when I'll be doing the next chapter; which may or may not be the last one, I'm not sure, but you'll have to wait and see (or bribe me, depending ;P).**

**Hope you enjoy people.**

**KaseyKC**

**Thirteen**

"_**Guilt is the source of sorrow, 'tis the fiend, Th' avenging fiend, that follows us behind, With whips and stings" – Nicholas Rowe.**_

Sometimes life has this funny way of handing you a chance, an opportunity, with which you can do anything, anything at all. Depending on how much you're willing to sacrifice for this chance to work. It's kind of a sad form of irony I suppose since you live a life without trying to work as lightly as others, as you live a life which gives you unparalleled hardships which you survive, as you live a life which throws you into the strangest of predicaments and leaves you to get on with it.

As it is, how ironic is it of life to give you this singular opportunity to solve one of the biggest problems of the Stargate program; the ninth chevron problem, and then give you the result of the Lucian Alliance and their stolen goa'uld technology? As if that wasn't a problem, the fact that the only planet they'd found viable for the amount of power required turned out to be one that didn't agree with being attacked by a bunch of rambunctious nomads meant that their salvation was altered due to a single scientists obsession with his work, resulting in them ending up in an entirely new section of the universe far-far-_far_ away from home. If that isn't irony then I don't know what is.

Guilt itself can be considered ironic, since some people only feel it after the fact; after they've gone against everyone's wishes and done the stupidest thing in existence and then thought to themselves _'oops, I probably shouldn't have done that'_. That's ironic, because you know that you shouldn't have done it but you still did, because you thought you were all-powerful, all-knowing or _whatever_! That's the sad reality of guilt; it's irony. Simple.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

Luck. What a strange thing. You can have good and bad luck, or something in between. It doesn't matter whether or not you believe in the existence of luck because you all think you're lucky if you survive something like a cave-in, a heart-attack, a car-crash, a near-death-experience, an attack on your inter-planetary base which happens to be on top of a ticking-time-bomb.

Luck depends on a person's perspective. Whilst some people might consider themselves lucky because they survived such an attack and subsequent explosion of an _entire planet_, others might think of themselves unlucky because they're stuck on a ship which is heading in the _opposite_ direction to where they want to be.

In fact, many things depends on a person's perspective, the old religions and civilisations are morphed and transformed from the beautiful and enlightened things that they are into dark and heretic-like things all because of a shift in perspective. It is mankind's inherent ability to change his perspective; he doesn't like things to be one way for too long. I suppose it can stem from the instinctual belief that was held by the early caveman, if something stays the same for too long then it might not be a good thing; like famine isn't a good thing to have prolonged, or drought, or war, or a myriad of other things.

Paganism was once a unique religion, a way of living that existed around the time of Christ (and before and long after even) which was turned from being what it truly was; a way of life that was thankful to the earth (to mother nature, gaia, the divine goddess and so on) which thanks to the development of Christianity was melded with it, many of its belief's becoming part of Christianity (such as the holy day, the Sabbath, and the word 'Amen' stemming from the Egyptian 'Amun-Ra'; the Egyptian Sun-God). Essentially, Paganism was changed from something good and alright with people into something dark, evil and sinful purely by a shift in people's perspective.

So if a person thought about it, nothing is ever fair or unfair, true or untrue, right or wrong, because it is the perspective of a person that skews something, a word, an act, a thought, a belief. Nothing is ever the same forever because mankind likes change.

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

Rush was sat on one of the benches in the viewing room on Destiny, just looking at the unique photonic-display as Destiny continued on in FTL. It was quite a unique thing to witness, especially when he was alone and no-one was there to distract him from the beautiful sight. And his thoughts.

As he observed the scientifically and visually astounding sight he thought about what T.J had mentioned to him earlier in the week, not long after she had cut the cake on her birthday.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"_Rush," T.J muttered as she carefully drew Rush away from anyone within hearing distance. She looked at him and he raised his eyebrows in a silent question to her, "I think you need to know something."_

"_Well I know a great many things T.J, so anything you can add to my knowledge would be useful," he tried to joke, his insides tightening slightly as his mind started to wonder what is was she wanted to tell him. He hoped it wasn't anything bad; or not as bad as usual._

_She sighed and shook her head slightly, "It's about Eli." _

_Her words caught his attention entirely and his insides froze, his breath stopped and his hear faltered for the longest of moments he'd ever felt in his entire forty-or so years of existence, "tell me," he whispered almost as though he didn't dare speak any louder than a revered whisper._

"_After you got caught under that inflatable thing in the infirmary a few weeks ago, when you were sedated Eli stayed with you for a little while and was talking to you about something," T.J whispered as she recalled what Eli had been saying to his unconscious father, "I shouldn't have been listening and it's a breach of his privacy but I think you have a right to know this."_

_He tilted his head slightly and motioned for her to continue. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves as she organised what she wanted to tell him in her mind, "essentially, he was talking about how he felt guilty for not realising you were hurt, he thinks that he's not worthy to be your son and that he's got a second chance at having a father in his life again, and that he's screwing it up because he can't do anything right. I think he has abandonment issues from when the father he'd known for the early years of his life left him and his mom, he seems to blame himself for that. And now he's afraid that he'll do something that'll get you hurt and that you might abandon him too."_

_Rush was silent, as silent as he could ever have had been in his life. He was silent for so long that T.J was starting to worry about him. But, when he spoke he didn't sound angry, he didn't sound worried, he didn't sound like he was full of guilt even though he felt all of that, he sounded calm and collected and determined, "thank you for telling me this T.J, I guess I've got a lot to talk about with him haven't I? But back to your birthday, we're here to celebrate and I can't do anything about Eli right now apart from dragging him out of here and having a long talk with him. But we set this party up and I don't want to pull him away from it just yet."_

_T.J nodded and wiped a single tear that had dislodged itself from her eye-lash, _'I'm crying?'_ she thought as Rush sighed and smiled at her, "It'll be alright T.J, there's no reason to cry."_

_She nodded and again and they both moved off back into the fray, but Rush kept a close eye on Eli throughout the entire party and made sure that no-one did anything not of his liking towards his son._

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

That had been only three days ago and, thanks to a rather annoying problem with the water filtration tanks, Rush hadn't had a chance to discuss anything with Eli without anyone over-hearing him. But now that he was in the viewing room of Destiny he was able to have some time where he could sit down and talk to his son; though he recognised the fact that maybe talking in one of their quarters or even the lab was better because it would be more private, he wanted to be somewhere where it was wide, open and spectacular.

He had called Eli over the private channel on the comm. that he wore at the moment about twenty minutes ago, essentially ordering his own son to get to the viewing room as quickly as his legs could carry him. Since he knew that when Eli was tired, as he was now, he would take an extra five minutes to get from the mess hall, where he had been when Rush had called him, to the viewing room, Rush had an ample amount of time to gaze at the photonic-magic occurring right outside the windows around him. Magnificent is what it truly was.

When he heard the sound of footsteps along the metallic floor of the corridor he drew himself out of his trance and focused back on what he was planning to do. As he listened to the change in the footsteps which signalled that Eli had crossed the threshold into the viewing room he said, "Close the door please Eli."

Eli, stopping in his tracks, looked at Rush curiously for a moment before closing the door with a mental thought before continuing over to sit down next to Rush on the bench, "so, what did you want to talk about?"

Rush looked at his son for a long moment before answering quietly, "you."

'_Oh God! What have I done?'_ Eli's eyebrows rose in surprise and his skin began to pale considerably leaving him looking sicker than he had in the infirmary not a month ago, "I don't understand..." _'yes I do, I've screwed up one time too many haven't I and you're rejecting me because I'm a disappointment and a failure and a total waste of-'_

"You're my son and I'm proud to _have you_ as a son, but you seem to have this notion in your head that I think you're a disappointment to me," Rush said softly as he correctly guessed what his son was thinking, "I have never been more proud of you than I was when you were working so hard these past few days and _you_ saved the people on Destiny, not me, _you_. On your own, so I've _never_ found you to be a disappointment Eli and I _never_ will because I love you and you're my son," he smiled as he saw Eli's features morph into surprise mixed with shyness, _'how could he ever think I was disappointed with him? He's the best son a father could ask for!'_

Rush, deciding to try and get to the other main point of this whole conversation continued, "Eli, I know you've been let down by other's in your life, your father-"

"He's not my father, _you_ are," Eli vehemently argued immediately, _'that man isn't my father! He left me and my mom to suffer! You would never have done that... would you?'_

'_True son, but back then you thought he _was_ your father,'_ Rush thought as he continued as though Eli hadn't interrupted, "your father left your mother and you felt like it was _your_ fault, a perfectly understandable belief for a young lad of your age, but listen to me when I say, I will _never_ leave you, not willingly, and I will do _everything_ in my power and beyond to keep you as safe as I possibly can. And the reason why Eli is because _you are my family_. You believe that I'm your second chance to have a father, well Eli, you're _my_ second chance to have a family; because it seems that the first time round we _both_ lost."

Eli felt tears prick the edges of his eyes but he fought against letting them flow as he stared at Rush who also looked distinctly teary-eyed. He didn't know what to say, what could he say? _'Wow... he really loves me... and he's trying to reassure me that he won't leave... but that reassurance isn't going to dispel my fears right away is it?'_

"I understand that you won't believe that right away and that you'll still keep your fears and your doubts, but I'm hoping Eli that, with time, those doubts and fears will go away because I'm going to be here for you as a _father_. I'm going to be here for you now because that's what _you_ deserve," Rush said forcefully as he looked deep into his son's eyes and recognised the feelings of doubt and fear that he too felt about it all, _'how can I do this if I couldn't even look after and care for my wife? No! I can't think like that! Not if I want to help Eli, not if I want to be the father that he deserves!'_

Eli shook his head and finally willed himself to speak, "No, no, I believe that what you're saying is true but it's hard for me to not doubt it, but I do believe you," he smiled at Rush, "I mean, you're my dad! How can I not believe you?" _'Rhetorical question! Do not answer!'_

Smiling Rush nodded and answered, "How indeed?" as he raised an eyebrow in mock humour, _'with my sense of judgement it's pretty easy not to believe me on many things, but not on this. On this I can be believed because I'm telling the absolute truth!'_

"Come on, let's go get something to eat dad, I'm hungry," Eli joked as he stood up and held out his hand to Rush who took the pro-offered limb and hauled himself upright.

"How can you be hungry? You came from the mess hall!" Rush exclaimed in mock surprise, as he and his son began moving in unison towards the door out of the viewing room.

"I'd only just arrived when you called me," Eli answered simply as he thought the door open at the exact same moment that Rush did, which caused the door to open. Then close. Then open again.

"What's with the door?" Rush muttered as he moved cautiously towards it, he looked at Eli who shrugged and smirked.

"Maybe we opened it at the same time and it got turned around?" he grinned before stepping through and looking at Rush with a smug grin, "what's wrong, you scared of a door?"

Rush glared at him and stepped through defiantly, "no, I'm just wary that's all! I don't want one of my limbs to be chopped off by an over-active door!"

Chuckling Eli began heading in the direction of the mess hall and Rush fell into step alongside him, still mumbling slightly about the door and how much damage it could do if it trapped his hand in it, and how he wouldn't be able to type anything with his injured hand if it did happen.

**TBC...**

**Okay, I've updated at Edwina B. Karch's request since SGU isn't on tv until October. Hope you like it!**

**KaseyKC**


	15. Epilogue

**Well people, this is the last chapter of this fic; wow, I'm amazed that I've finally finished it; and it's not as long as I thought it would be. Although that might be because of the length of the chapters themselves.**

**Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed it and yes I've heard the SGU isn't going to be on tv until October but I might be doing a couple of one-shots that continue on from this fic and maybe even another fic (which may or may not have the same basis on Eli and Rush being related. I haven't decided yet). Until then however, I'll leave you with this last chapter which I hope you'll enjoy and will find humorous in some sections and finalised in others.**

**With love, KaseyKC**

**FAMILIAL BONDS**

**Epilogue**

"_Life has this way where if you're not careful it can mess you up, but it also has this way where if you are careful it's like the best friend you'll ever have." – Author of Familial Bonds._

It's kind of funny really, but life really does have this strange old way of tearing your existence to pieces and then reassembling the pieces in such a manner that you feel like yourself but you're different to who you were twenty-minutes ago, twenty-days ago, or even twenty-years ago! When you consider how your life changes as each second ticks by on that huge clock that hangs above everyone's head, like a timer counting-down, you actually realise that if you were the same person as you were when you were born, or when you turned one, five, eight, nineteen or any other random age, you'd realise that you'd probably wouldn't have survived everything that you'd been through in the last few seconds.

For Rush that was sadly accurate since he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that if someone had said to him three years ago that he would have a family again and that he'd be as happy as he could be, he'd have probably torn who ever said those words apart. Afterall, grief was a powerful and deadly thing if handled incorrectly. Grief could motivate a man to advance his knowledge of all things scientific for the sake of a lost loved-one, but it could also motivate a man to gain revenge and contemplate murder in a terrifying bout of cold, determined and sociopathic sanity.

Essentially, it's a good thing that people change and develop as each second ticks on by on the count-down of life, because otherwise Rush doubted that he would have ever had been able to handle having another family; a second-chance if you will. He knows how he would have reacted to such knowledge three years ago, heck even a year ago his response would have been completely different to what it had been only months ago. But time changes people; things that happen to them when they're on an alien ship on the other side of the known, and unknown, universe and can't get home anytime soon, change their views, their ideals, their feelings and their perspective changes.

Oh boy does their perspective change! Rush knew that Eli, his brilliant son, wouldn't have been able to handle being beamed about an advanced human-designed and built ship if he didn't have the capacity to adapt; to change and develop. He'd have freaked and they'd have had to have either returned him to earth or sedate him until they'd reached Icarus.

But Eli had the capacity to change, to develop and it was that which had ultimately lead to Rush dialling the gate on Icarus and them all ending up on Destiny. True, it was Eli's math that had resulted in him being beamed aboard the General Hammond in the first place, but he would never had been able to apply his genius to the problem if he hadn't been able to adapt and cope with such an out-of-this-world experience.

Rush would always be thankful that he had managed to get another chance at having a family, he would relish the opportunity, and though he might get it wrong on occasion, and not know how to handle a son with just as much of a stubborn streak as he himself had, he'd try. And that was the best that anyone could really ask for from a man who thought he'd lost everything when his wife had died and had buried his head in his work to avoid life and the pain.

It's not as though there's an instruction manual on how to be a parent; if there was then maybe less kids would end up in detention and prison, but there is a sort of inbuilt guidance system that works on the basis of instinct. A parent instinctively feels the urge to protect and care for their child, just as Rush feels the urge to protect and care for Eli; of course, the way in which he protects Eli is open for debate. Fist fights with random personnel who happen to not like Eli as much as they pretend to might win a few points with his son but not so much with Colonel Young.

"Rush! You can't get into fights with every person who looks at Eli the wrong way!" Young sighed as he glared tiredly at Rush; he'd left the mess hall fully-intending on going to get a few hours shut-eye when Rush and one of the military soldiers had come crashing out of one of the doors in a tangle of limbs, insults and punches. He'd had to physically pick Rush up and carry him away from the soldier who looked like he'd got into a fight with a lion; and lost.

"He was insulting Eli," Rush growled in his defence, feeling like he could bash someone's head in without hesitation, and the feeling showed on his face because Young stood up straight and readied himself for a fight.

"And that was very wrong of him, but that still doesn't give you the right to knock his teeth down his throat!" Young countered as he moved slightly onto the balls of his feet, watching Rush pace about like a caged animal and he wished there was a force-field or something between them because Rush's face conveyed nothing but anger and murderous intentions.

"Eli's saved his sorry carcass dozens of times and that's how he talks about him!" Rush muttered to himself as he cracked his knuckles in a move reminiscent of his time on the docks back in Scotland when he'd been a young lad, "we should've let his pathetic waste of flesh be jettisoned by Destiny when he got locked in that unpressurised corridor! It would have done the lot of us some good!"

Young slowly edged towards the door when Scott and Greer were waiting outside, ready to enter and restrain Rush if they heard a scuffle which they were half-expecting. Just as he reached the door Rush swung around and stared at him directly, "I'm not going to attack you Colonel! I know Scott and Greer are outside and they'd love the excuse to lock me in the brig... as would everyone else!"

Not entirely trusting Rush's words Young opened the door and said firmly to Scott and Greer, "escort Doctor Rush to his quarters and try and avoid any of the more populated areas of the ship; we don't want any major bloodshed."

Greer nodded silently and smirked at Rush who scowled at Young murderously, "No problem sir."

"Yes sir," Scott agreed and then looked at Rush, "come on doc. Sooner you're in your quarters the sooner you can punch the wall repeatedly."

"I'd rather that carcass' face personally," Rush retorted as he stormed past Young who held his breath feeling a little anxious at Rush's more than violent temper.

"I'm sure you would doc, but that carcass might save your life one day," Scott smirked as Rush stopped and gave him a glare so powerful that he had to stop himself from turning to stone for the medusa-style look.

"I'd rather be eaten by a wraith and host to a Goa'uld!" Rush growled dangerously as he swiftly turned away from Scott and began to march down the corridor in the direction of his quarters. Scott and Greer quickly caught up with him as they shared a quick glance with Young who was standing on the threshold of his office looking like he needed some air.

"Guess Rush is pretty scary in a confined space when he's like this," Greer muttered quietly to Scott who nodded silently before radioing to any soldiers nearby to get out of the way or they'd be fair-game for the worked-up Scotsman.

When they reached Rush's quarters he stopped and turned to look directly at Scott and Greer, he looked calmer and more collected; though not by much. He cracked his knuckles in the same manner he'd done in Young's office and the two soldiers felt a little worried about being alone with a still pissed-off Rush.

"How much is the pool?" Rush asked quietly as he stared at them calmly, but the calmness was betrayed by the raw anger and murderous intent that could clearly be seen in his eyes.

"Uh-" Greer fumbled for an answer as Rush cut across him.

"I know you guys have been running a betting-pool on me so tell me, how much is it up to?" Rush explained slowly as Scott shifted slightly and Greer felt the need to grip his firearm more tightly.

Scott looked at Greer briefly, as though debating whether or not to tell Rush the truth, but decided to quickly spill the beans when Rush cracked his knuckles again, "it's up to three says worth of real food from each of the scientists and a spare clip of ammunition from half of the soldiers."

Rush stared at Scott for a long moment before quietly saying, "what's the max bet that needs to be exceeded for you two to reap the benefits?"

"Five fights in three days," Greer supplied as he had been keeping tabs on the bets. Scott looked at him in surprise at the number of fights, "it was that scientist you don't like who betted."

Rush nodded slowly and asked, "how many fights have I had in the last two days?"

Scott cleared his throat and slowly answered, "err, three."

"Two more to go then right?" Rush asked as he suddenly smiled and watched humorously as the two soldiers blinked and backed-up a step as though he had finally snapped and was about to pick a fight with the pair of them, "thanks for telling me. Night."

Turning around Rush opened the door to his quarters and stepped inside, closing the door in Scott and Greer's faces. He slowly turned around to look at his bed and the figure sitting hunched up in silent fits of laughter on it, "I hope you realise how bloody time consuming it is to be getting into fist-fights with every Tom, Dick and Harry every twenty-minutes?"

The only response he got was muffled laughter as Eli looked at him and saw the frazzled-looking hairstyle that Rush had been sporting since his altercation with the unlucky soldier who he'd decided to pick on. The poor guy hadn't said a word against Eli but for the sake of their entire scam Rush had to find victims and the soldier was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The fight however must have been something because Eli wouldn't stop cackling like a witch and hyena cross. Rush sighed and shoved Eli out of the way as he sat down and looked at the screen from the kino that had recorded the entire event, "I never knew I looked that crazy when I got in a fight..." Rush muttered to himself as Eli finally laughed out loud, no longer able to contain his amusement.

"You have no idea! You should see yourself in Young's office! He looked terrified of you!" Eli laughed as he paused the recording and opened another file and played another video, "here, look."

Rush watched the recording and sure enough he watched as Young edged slowly towards the door as he paced up and down like a caged animal. He'd never seen that look on the Colonel's face and found it quite funny that he'd been the one to put it there; it was the look of a man who felt like he was about to be eaten by a wild animal.

"I've got to show T.J this!" Eli breathed as he finally managed to stop laughing, "she'll love it!"

"She'll never feel safe being in the same room as me again if she saw this," Rush countered, "She'd think I was a madman."

"She knows you're a madman, this'll just be proof to cooperate everyone's theory that you're an escaped mental patient," Eli pointed out as Rush shrugged in defeat; it had been a common theory that some of the soldier's had been spreading. As well as the theory that Rush was secretly an alien from an advanced race that lacked any form of social skills; he believed that Dr McKay was also ranked as being from the same supposed advanced race. Personally, he'd call that advanced race evolved genetics that avoided the common trait that most other foolish scientists had; ego but no brains, it was quite a common trait strangely enough.

"You do realise that Young isn't going to let me into the mess hall for weeks after all of this?" Rush asked pointedly as Eli began to laugh again, "and that means you're going to have to get my coffee for me; when I ask for it."

Rush smirked as Eli stopped laughing and stared at Rush in shock, "that's beyond evil," he muttered, "they'll kill me!"

"Yeah well, just remember who's idea this was," Rush grinned as Eli slumped back against the wall of his quarters and stared forlornly at the wall opposite.

"Do you think it's too late to stop this?" he asked as Rush shook his head.

"Nope, my head's killing me from where sergeant whatever managed to get in a lucky blow, and my knuckles look like they belong to a street-fighter, so no. I'm seeing this through to the end; besides, I think I deserve some real food for my part in this," Rush replied as he leaned back on his bed and watched as Eli rubbed a hand across his face.

"They're gonna want to know why you keep knocking the crap out of random people you know," Eli muttered as he searched for a way to survive after this was all over.

"Well that's easy. I've been under the influence of an alien drug that makes me incredibly paranoid and resulted in me thinking that there was a plot to kill me and you," Rush grinned as Eli looked at him surprised, "Do you really think I wouldn't have a plan for once this was all over?"

Eli was quiet for a long moment before he suddenly grabbed the pillow from Rush's bed and smacked him on the head with it, "You ass! You let me think that you were going to tell everyone it was my fault you were getting into fights with everyone!"

Rush laughed as Eli hit on the head again with the pillow and waited for son to stop knocking the soft-lining of pillow out of it before he stood up and opened his door, "you'd best get some sleep, I'm planning on two more fights tomorrow so you'll need to be well-rested for your shift in the lab."

"Oh isn't that something to look forward to," Eli snarked as he chucked the lumpy pillow back on the bed and left the room, "how do you think Young will react to all this?"

"Not well I suppose," Rush sighed as he bade his son goodnight and shut the door to his quarters. He threw himself down on his bed and shoved his now lumpy-pillow behind his head and closed his eyes as he turned the lights off in his room. He smiled to himself as he thought, _'everyone thinks that earth is our home... no, home is where the heart is and my heart's right here.'_

**-SGU-FB-SGU-FB-**

The stars watched in silent observation as the ancient warship continued on its journey through the universe, carrying upon it the remnants of a base where a life-choice had been made for them. A life-choice that would bring them good, bad and morally-grey experiences that would give them the chance and opportunity to develop and learn to live with each other.

The endless existence of the universe, being so many billions of years old, meant that some of these stars had witnessed the moment when civilisations first began to develop; whether they were micro-cellular organisms, animals, plants or homo-sapiens, these stars were the ones that did not burn as brightly as the others for their torches were being extinguished by time and the moment where they would pass on the responsibility to watch and observe the evolution of these life-forms would be passed on to the younger generation of stars which burned with an ethereal beauty that mystified billions, even trillions, of life-forms across the cosmos.

These stars, all together, the young and the old watched as inside this ancient warship and father and son's relationship continued to flourish giving credence to the idea that even in the most hostile and treacherous of places humanity can still develop and love can be just as strong as determination and anger that can drive them to do the impossible to save one another.

**END**

**Oh heaven's, it's actually over... but that doesn't mean you can't review it and tell me what you think of the chapter; as well as try and convince to do another sequel... and one-shots and such :P**

**I do hope you've enjoyed this fic and found most of it realistic and believable, since I'm not a fan of fics that aren't all that realistic or believable. Anyway, I hope you guys will review and order me to write another sequel and such; or I'll be disappointed. **

**KaseyKC**


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